
Class. 
Book . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




W. S. Dassonviffe 



MISION SAN MIGUEL, ARCANGEL 



We OLD SPANISH 

• MISSIONS • 
OF CALIFORNIA 

AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE 
SKETCH BY PAUL ELDER • ILLUS- 
TRATED CHIEFLY FROM PHOTO- 
GRAPHS BY WESTERN ARTISTS 



At Carmel Mission 

Through a rose-window crudely 

wrought by loving toil in days gone by, 

Glinted the wartn-hued rays of the 

sun upon our heads; 

And a light from long ago, 

Lit by the hands of the faithful Fathers, 

Shed its soft beams athwart the years 

Upon our hearts; 

While at the altar, deserted of men, 

We felt the radiant presence of 

the living God 

Frances Tyler 



PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS, SAN FRANCISCO 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

No claim is made by the writer to original research or 
personal impressions in the preparation of this volume, 
and full credit is very gratefully made to the contemporary 
and current writings that have been drawn upon in its 
compilation. Undoubtedly no work will better serve the 
reader desiring a correct general picture of the Missions, 
the history of their establishment, rise and fall, their influ- 
ence on the Indians, note's on their architecture and present 
condition, than" In and Out of the Old Missions," by George 
Wharton James or the same writer's condensed volume 
entitled, "The Old Franciscan Missions of California." 
"The Missions of Nueva California," by Charles Frank 
Carter, is an appreciative sketch written with an artist's eye 
to their note of beauty and [pathos. " California and the 
Missions," by Helen Hunt Jackson, is made vivid with her 
intense human interest in the devoted missionaries and 
their work, and the later pitiful condition of the Mission 
Indians. " The Missions and Missionaries of California," 
by Father Zephyrin Engelhardt is a most scholarly and 
exhaustive work. It is now in process of publication and 
is to fill several large octavo volumes. "California and Its 
Missions," by Bryan J. Clynch, is still another detailed his- 
tory. Other writings of greater or less importance and 
completeness are those by John S. McGroarty, John T. 
Doyle, John Gilmary Shea, Mrs. Laura Bride Powers, Mrs. 
Armitage S. C. Forbes, Jesse S. Hildrup, Elizabeth Hughes, 
P. J. Thomas, Mary Graham and others. Many of these 
refer back to H H. Bancroft's monumental history for their 
historical data. And of early writers, there are Fathers 
Pallou and Crespi, Alexander Forbes, Alfred Robinson, 
and voyagers and travelers, including Vancouver, De 
Mofras, La Perouse and Duhaut-Cilly. 

Copyright, 1913 
by Paul Elder 






CONTENTS 



The Missions are described in the order of their founding. The dates of their estab- 
lishment, the largest number of neophytes in each at any one time and the year in 
which this maximum was reached, fas compiled by Carter from Bancroft's History) 
and their present condition are here given that the reader may have a comprehen- 
sive table of the entire chain. 

Page 

The Old Spanish Missions of California . . . . .1 
San Diego de Alcala ■'.;';. . . . 4 

Near San Diego. Founded July 16, 1769. Neophytes in 1824, 1829. Only the 

fachada now remains standing. 

Santa Isabel (Asistencia of Mission San Diego). Founded September 15, 1821. 

Nearly gone, but each year the chapel is constructed anew with boughs and 

tules. 

San Carlos Borromeo (El Carmelo) 8 

Near Monterey. Founded June 3, 1770. Neophytes in 1794, 921. Creditably 
restored but not retiled. 

The Monterey Presidio Church (San Carlos) in Monterey. Restored and en- 
larged. 

San Antonio de Padua 14 

Out from Kings City, near Jolon. Founded July 14, 1771. Neophytes in 1805, 
1296. Deserted and in ruins. 

San Gabriel, Arcangel 18 

Near Los Angeles. Founded September 8, 1771. Neophytes in 1817, 1701. 
Creditably restored and in use. 

The Pueblo Church of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles. Dedicated December 8, 
1822. Preserved and in use. i 

San Luis, Obispo de Tolosa . . 22 

In San Luis Obispo. Founded September 1, 1772. Neophytes in 1803, 852. 
Restored, with loss of old-time character, and in use. 
Santa Margarita (Asistencia of San Luis Obispo) . In ruins. 

San Francisco de Asis (Dolores) 24 

In San Francisco. Founded October 9, 1776. Neophytes in 1820, 1252. Re- 
stored and in use. 

San Juan Capistrano . . 28 

In Capistrano. Founded November 1, 1776. Neophytes in 1812, 1361. Partly 
repaired and in use, but the church in ruins. 

Santa Clara de Asis 34 

In Santa Clara. Founded January 12, 1777. Neophytes in 1827, 1464. But lit- 
tle of the old Mission remains, and that is absorbed in the buildings of the 
modern Santa Clara University. 

San Buenaventura 36 

In San Buenaventura. Founded March 30, 1782. Neophytes in 1816, 1328. 
Creditably restored and in use. 

Santa Barbara . . . . .40 

In Santa Barbara. Founded December 4, 1786. Neophytes in 1803, 1792. Pre- ' 
served and in use. It alone of the Missions keeps its ancient aspect. 

La Purisima Conception . . . . . . . . .46 

Near Lompoc. Founded December 8, 1787. Neophytes in 1804, 1520. Deserted 
and in ruins. 

Santa Cruz 50 

Founded September 25, 1791. Neophytes in 1796, 523. Entirely gone. 

Ill 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS Paee 

Nuestra Senora de la Soledad 52 

Near Soledad. Founded October 9, 1791. Neophytes in 1805, 725. Deserted 
and in ruins. 

San Jose de Guadalupe 54 

Near San Jose. Founded June 11, 1797. Neophytes in 1831, 1886. Rebuilt; 
practically a new structure, with loss of old-time character. 

San Juan, Bautista . . . .56 

Near Sargent's Station, in San Juan. Founded June 24, 1797. Neophytes in 
1823, 1248. Much repaired and in use. 

San Miguel, Arcangel 60 

In San Miguel. Founded July 25, 1797. Neophytes in 1814, 1076. Creditably 
restored and in use. 

San Fernando, Rey de Espagna 64 

Near San Fernando. Founded September 8, 1797. Neophytes in 1819, 1080. 
The church is in ruins but the main building habitable with slight repairing. 

San Luis, Rey de Francia 70 

Near Oceanside. Founded June 13, 1798. Neophytes in 1826, 2869. Creditably 
restored and in use. 

San Antonio de Pala (Asistencia of Mission San Luis Rey). Founded in 
1816. Partly restored and in use. 

Santa Ine"s 82 

Near Los Olivos. Founded September 17, 1804. Neophytes in 1816, 768. Cred- 
itably restored and in use. 

San Rafael, Arcangel 86 

Founded December 14, 1817. Neophytes in 1828, 1140. Entirely gone. 

San Francisco Solano 88 

In Sonoma. Founded July 4, 1823. Neophytes in 1832, 996. Restored. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Mision San Miguel, Arcangel . 

Father Junipero Serra 

From an authentic photograph (in the historical collection 
of Charles B. Turrill, Esq.) of a contemporary painting 

Father Junipero Serra 

Monument erected by Jane L. Stanford at Monterey 

The Mission Bell, San Diego . 
Mision San Diego de Alcala . 
The Humble Chapel at Santa Isabel 
Carmel Mission, from the Adobe Ruins . 
Mision San Carlos Borromeo (El Carmelo) . 
Interior of Chapel, at Carmel (During Mass) . 
The Presidio Church, Monterey 
Ruined Arches of San Antonio de Padua 
Mision San Antonio de Padua 
Buttresses and Choir Stairway, San Gabriel . 
The Campanile of San Gabriel . . . 
The Church of Our Lady, Queen of Angels . 
An Old Window in San Luis Obispo 
Massive Stone Doorway at Santa Margarita . 
Interior of the Chapel, Mission Dolores . 

IV 



W. S. Dassonville 


Frontispiece 
. 1 


H. C. Tibbitts 


. Facing 2 


Harold A. Taylor 


. 4 


W. S. Dassonville 


. Facing 4 


C. C. Pierce 


. 7 


Maude Jay Wilson 


. 8 


Hermann O. Albrecht Facing 8 


Hermann O. Albrecht Facing 1 2 


E. N. Sewell 


. 13 


H. C. Tibbitts 


. 14 


H. C. Tibbitts " . 


Facing 16 


H. C. Tibbitts 


. 18 


S. L. Willard . 


Facing 20 


Harold A. Parker 


. 21 


H. C. Tibbitts 


. 22 


C. C. Pierce . 


. 23 


A. C. Vroman 


. 24 



Page 
E. N. Sewell . .Facing 24 

Hermann O. Albrecht , 28 

Maude Jay Wilson . Facing 28 
Hermann O. Albrecht Facing 3 2 

34' 



CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mision San Francisco de Asis (Dolores) 
Ruins of San Juan Capistrano 
Rose-vined Arches of San Juan Capistrano . 
Cloister Arches, San Juan Capistrano 
Mision Santa Clara de Asis . 

From an Old Painting. Courtesy of Charles B. Turrill, Esq. 

The Garden Doorway of San Buenaventura . Harold A. Taylor 

Mision San Buenaventura . . . 

Cemetery Doorway, Santa Barbara 

Mision Santa Barbara .... 

The Bell Towers of Santa Barbara 

Ruins of La Purisima .... 

The Ruined Corridor, La Purisima 

Mision Santa Cruz 

From an Old Painting. Courtesy of Harold A. Parker 

A Bit of La Soledad .... 

Adobe Ruins of La Soledad . 

Monastery Corridor, San Jose de Guadalupe 

The Arches of San Juan, Bautista . 

The Monastery of San Juan, Bautista . 

Corridor Arches, San Miguel, Arcangel . 

Mision San Miguel, Arcangel . 

Ruined Chapel, San Fernando 

The Palms of San Fernando 

The Monastery Corridor of San Fernando 

In the Cemetery of San Luis Rey . 

The Tower of San Luis Rey ... 

The Old Doorway of San Luis Rey 

The Bell Tower of San Antonio de Pala 

Mission Bell, San Antonio de Pala*. 

Ruined Arch, Santa Ines 

Mision Santa Ines . . ■ . . 

Mision San Rafael, Arcangel 

From an Old Painting. Courtesy of Charles B. Turrill, Esq. 

Mision San Francisco Solano 

From an Old Painting. Courtesy of Charles B. Turrill, Esq. 

Mision San Francisco Solano . . . . . A. c. Vroman 



, H. C. Tibbitts . 
, Harold A. Taylor 
, S. L. Willard . 
Harold A. Parker 
Harold A. Parker 
H. C. Tibbitts . 

H. C. Tibbitts 

H. C. Tibbitts 

S. L. Willard 

S. L. Willard 

S. L. Willard 

H. C. Tibbitts 

H. C. Tibbitts 

H. C. Tibbitts 

Harold A. Taylor 

Harold A. Taylor 

Hermann O. Albrecht 



. 36 

. Facing 3 6 

. 40 

> Facing 40 
. Facing 44 

. 46 

. Facing 48 

. 50' 
. 52 

.Facing 52 

. 54^ 
. 56 

. Facing 56 

. 60 

. Facing 60 

. 64" 

. Facing 64 "' 
. Facing 68 " 

. 70 1 " 



Hermann O. Albrecht Facing 72 



Harold A. Parker 
Harold A. Taylor 
Harold A. Parker 

, H. C. Tibbitts . 

, W. S. Dassonville- 



Facing 
Facing 



76^ 
80"' 
. 81"" 
. 82 

Facing 84 "X 

. 86 



. 88 

Facing 88 



V 



As it is a whole year since I received any 
letter from a Christian country, Your Rev- 
erence may suppose in what want we are 
for news; but, for all that, I only ask when 
you can get an opportunity to inform me 
what the most Holy Father, the reigning 
Pope, is called, that I may put his name in 
the canon of the Mass; also to say if the 
canonization of the beatified Joseph Cuper- 
tino and Serafino Asculi has taken place; 
and if there is any other beatified one or 
Saint, in order that I may put them in the 
calendar and pray to them, we having, it 
would appear, taken our leave of all printed 
calendars. Tell me, alas, if it is true that 
the Indians have killed Father Joseph Sala 
in Sonora, and how it happened, and if there 
are any other friends deceased, in order that 
I may commend them to God; with any- 
thing else that Your Reverence may think 
fit to communicate to a few poor hermits, 
separated from human society. 

Written in the year 1770, at Monterey, 
by Father Junipero Serra to 
Father Pallou 



FATHER 
JUNIPERO 
SERRA, 
PROM AN 
AUTHENTIC 
PHOTO- 
GRAPH (IN 
THE HIS- 
TORICAL 
COLLECTION 
OP CHARLES 
B. TURRILL, 
ESQ.) OF A 
CONTEMPO- 
RARY 
PAINTING 




T! 



THE OLD SPANISH MISSIONS OF CALIFOR- 
NIA r THEIR PURPOSE AND THE MANNER 
OF THEIR FOUNDING * INTRODUCTION 

^HE SpanishMissionshadtheir 
inception in a system of colon- 
ization the reverse of that of Eng- 
land. Instead of looking upon the 
aborigines as wild animals or ene- 
mies to be subdued or destroyed, 
under it they were regarded as 
fellow men-to be protected, con- 
verted and saved. Therefore, while 
frankly and avowedly for tempo- 
ral ends "to extend the dominion 
of the King, our Lord, and to pro- 
tect this Peninsula from the am- 
bitious views of foreign nations," 
the zealous missionary was sent 
with temporal as well as spiritual 
power to win over the savage and to train him in the industries 
of civilization, the fruits of which he shared. 

This system resulted in making "the early history of Cali- 
fornia probably the most interesting and picturesque of that of 
any State in our country," says Carter. "For energy of purpose 
in the inception of the Missions established by the Franciscan 
order of the Catholic Church; for courage to persevere in the 
face of numberless difficulties; for continued zeal shown toward 
the betterment of the Indians, even under the stress of danger 
to life; for the wonderful, rapid growth in prosperity and power 
of the great Missions established at various points from San 
Diego to San Francisco; for picturesque scenes of Mission, 
Mexican and Indian life during a period of more than half a 
century, with their manners and customs utterly foreign to 
anything elsewhere found in the United States; for the sad, 
pathetic death of the Mission system after its glorious spiritual 
career-for all these things the history of this State forms a 
chapter second to none, in interest and picturesqueness." 

The missionary activity in Alta California grew out of the 
mysterious expulsion of the order of Jesuits from the Spanish 
dominions in 1767, and the necessity thus created of caring for 



THE OLD SPANISH MISSIONS 
the fourteen Mission establishments in Baja California that had 
been founded by the Jesuit fathers. Father Junipero Serra, then 
fifty-six years old, was granted his lifelong and most cherished 
desire of going as a missionary to distant lands and, appointed 
Father-Presidente of both the Californias,he was sent in charge 
of a band of Franciscans to replace the Jesuits and extend the 
Mission work to Nueva California. 

Under the instructions of Don Jose Galvez, Visitador Gen- ' 
eral for the King, Father Serra accompanied by Fathers Crespi, 
Gomez, Parron and Vizcaino, with Don Gaspar de Portola, 
Governor of Baja California, Don Pedro Fages and others, after 
great difficulties (almost incredible when we think of the facilities 
of to-day) made the first stand at San Diego in 1796. From there 
the search for the port of Monterey was started and the foun- 
dation of Mision San Carlos Borromeo was made a year later. 
Then, one by one, with infinite patience and courageous 
zeal, the different Missions were slowly established, developed in 
power, wealth and service, until the complete chain of twenty- 
one was finally completed at Solano in 1823. Overcoming their 
first meager resources, surviving drought, Indian insurrection 
and the disaster of earthquake, the Fathers nobly accomplished 
the work set for them to do, only to succumb finally to the 
avarice of man. The orders of secularization sent from Mexico 
without a sufficient knowledge of the Mission problems, the 
disorders arising from the Mexican revolution and the subse- 
quent political unrest and the itch to participate in the wealth 
of the Missions resulted all to quickly in their downfall. 

"The records of the founding of these Missions are similar 
in details, but are full of interest to one in sympathy either with 
their spiritual or their historical significance," writes Helen 
JHunt Jackson. "The routine was the same in all cases. A 
cross was set up; a booth of branches was built; the ground 
and the booth were consecrated by holy water, and christened 
by the name of a saint; a mass was performed and the neigh- 
boring Indians, if there were any, were roused and summoned 
by the ringing of bells swung on limbs of trees; presents of 
cloth and trinkets were given them to inspire them with trust, 
and thus a Mission was founded. Two monks (never, at first, 
more) were appointed to take charge of this cross and booth, 
and to win, baptize, convert and teach all the Indians to be 




i 



\Ml l/"/U;lAMIJ£n VEKYfJEV. FATHER JiJNfPERO SE8HA.0 ,; 
UHlofcfl FOLLOWINL' Wl ■■ SAN 0f£GO. JULY JC. 17SS I. v I 

.,.: : ■ i .: r£fl£.V,JliNE J. 1770. SAN ANTONIO OEHADUA JULY |4 <• 

[)S ODLOflES. UC r. 9, 1776, SAN JUAH CAPJSTHAMO NOV ; l/A- 
. iXA CLAHA. UAN. 18. 1777. SAN BUENAVENfUHA MAR 2 7g . 
AND DIED AUL. 28. 1734. IN SAN CABLOS MISSION. OARfvULJ VA> • 

i . :.. . i whmtwi co ■ sa isas ■ ' : , 




K C. Tibbitts 



OF MS MAST£R 



FATHER-PRESIDENTE JUNIPERO SERRA 

Monument Erected by Jane L. Stanford at Monterey 






But it was the expedition to Monterey (his 
own conception) that claimed the heart of 
Galvez. It claimed also the heart of Croix; 
and, straightway it was known, the heart 
of Junipero Serra. An unusual group— one 
unusual even for New Spain— were the 
three men, Jose de Galvez, visitador; Fran- 
cisco de Croix, viceroy; and Junipero Serra, 
president of the California Missions: Gal- 
vez— honest, masterful and bluff; Croix— 
honest, discerning and diplomatic; Serra— 
a seraphic spirit, a later Salvatierra, a New- 
World Francis of Assisi; post-mediaeval, yet 
not belated for his task; beholder of visions, 
believer in miracles, merciless wielder of the 
penitential scourge; yet through simple puri- 
ty of heart, possessed of a courage not un- 
equal to labors the most arduous, and 
of a wisdom not unequal to situa- 
tions the most perplexing. 

From "In California Under Spain 

and Mexico, " 

by Irving Richman 



THE OLD SPANISH MISSIONS 
reached in the region. They had for guard and help a few 
soldiers, and sometimes a few already partly civilized and 
christianized Indians; several head of cattle, some tools and 
seeds, and holy vessels for the church service completed their 
store of weapons, spiritual and secular, offensive and defensive, 
with which to conquer the wilderness and its savages. There 
needs no work of the imagination to help this picture. Taken 
in its sternest realism, it is vivid and thrilling; contrasting the 
wretched poverty of these single-handed beginnings with the 
final splendor and riches attained, the result seems well-nigh 
miraculous." 

We learn from Father Zephyrin Engelhardt's valuable work 
on the Missions of California that for the foundation of each 
Mission, for the construction of the buildings, procuring church 
goods, furniture, agricultural implements and raw materials, 
the King allowed one thousand dollars to be appropriated from 
the revenues of the Pious Fund. For each of the two Fathers 
in charge, there was an annual allowance of four hundred dol- 
lars which was usually expended for vestments, sacred vessels, 
altar linens, paintings, statues and general supplies. As probably 
half of this amount was lost in paying for the transportation of 
the articles secured, it is seen that the financial aid from the 
crown was most meager and insignificant in comparison with 
the wonderful accomplishments of the friars. It is said that the 
buildings of San Juan Capistrano could not be duplicated to- 
day for less than one hundred thousand dollars. 

The dominant incidents of the romantic history of these 
Franciscan Missions, with notes on the present condition of 
their picturesque buildings, are briefly sketched in the following 
chapters devoted to each Mission in the order of its foundation. 






THE 

MISSION 

BELL, 

SAN DIEGO 

Harold A. 

Taylor 



MISION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA • FATHER 
JUNIPERO SERRA AND THE FIRST ARGO- 
NAUTS * THE FIRST MISSION FOUNDED 

THE Spanish pioneers of 
1769 have happily been 
called the first argonauts of 
California, preceding those of 
the golden era by many years 
of high endeavor and noble 
achievement. Father Junipero 
Serra was one of them, cheer- 
fully entering upon experiences 
of the utmost hardship and pri- 
vation unmindful of his already 
advanced age. He was a man 
of unbounded zeal, ignoring 
physical ills, fatigues and dan- 
gers, longing only, with fiery 
enthusiasm, for the conversion 
of the gentiles he had come to 
save. Palou tells how when 
Father Serra journeyed overland to San Diego, being woefully 
troubled with a sore foot, and, refusing either to remain behind 
or be carried on a litter, he applied to a muleteer for the 
remedy that would be given the animals (that being the only 
aid available), and "God rewarded the humility of his servant. 
The patient rested quietly that night, and the next morning, 
to the surprise of everyone, he arose early to recite matins and 
lauds and offer up the Holy Sacrifice." After striving vainly 
among the Indians for nearly a year, his heart was gladdened 
by the promise that a child would be given him to be bap- 
tized, but, the same writer relates: "When the Presidente had 
finished the previous ceremonies and was about to pour the 
water, the Indians suddenly snatched away the child and im- 
mediately made off in great haste for their huts, leaving the 
good Father in amazement with the water in his hands. The 
feeling of the venerable Father was such, seeing the baptism 
of the child so frustrated, that for many days the sorrow and 
pain which he suffered might be discovered in his countenance; 
his Reverence attributing the conduct of the Indians to his 







He that fell here wore the one crown 
The humble sovereign can lay down, 

And so be kinglier than he was before. 
Time writes against this martyr's name: 
'A better world because he came, 

Good Padre Jayme, to this western shore." 
* * * 

The savage, with his ax and brand, 
Could not Heaven's warrior understand. 

"Seek Him, love Him, my children!" so he cried 
On the raw ranks of native men, 
Who only struck, and struck again, 

And left him with the arrows in his side. 

The Father loved, when waned the day, 
To wander up the valley way; 

Free, for an hour, from the resisting wills, 
The wrestling with unready mind, 
To bare his forehead to the wind, 

Still blowing, blowing on the blessed hills. 

Around this little leaning cross 
Bend, yellow grasses, wave and toss; 

Gleam, gray ancestral olives; blow, winds, blow 
Back sweeter, sunny hour to hour, 
Love's perfume— breath of the one flower 

In all God's keep that comes, and cannot go! 

"The Wooden Cross in the Weeds " 

(San Diego) 

By John Vance Cheney 



MISION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA 

own sins; and many years afterwards, when he related this 
circumstance, he had to wipe the tears from his eyes." It was 
he who said when he received the news at San Carlos of the 
Indian insurrection at San Diego in 1775 and of the martyrdom 
of Father Jayme, "God be thanked. Now the soil is watered; 
now will the reduction of the Dieguenos be complete." 

With him, in that first gathering, were Father Crespi, the 
friend of his youth, (the two, with Palou and Verger, having 
studied together when young monks in the Convent of Ma- 
jorca, and the four coming in the same party to Mexico in 1749) 
and Fathers Vizcaino, Parron and Gomez and the several 
officers of the government. ' 

No time was lost after the assembling of the expedition 
at San Diego (it having been dispatched in four separate 
parties, two by water and two by land) in starting action. 
One of the vessels was sent on the return trip to San Bias for 
necessary supplies; Governor Portola with Captain Rivera and 
a company of soldiers, and Fathers Crespi and Gomez left 
within a few weeks on their search for the port of Monterey; 
and shortly after their departure "the zeal which burned in the 
breast of our venerable Father Junipero did not permit him to 
forget the principal object of his coming, and on the sixteenth 
day of July he commenced the foundation of the Mission by 
chanting a Mass and performing the other ceremonies." But 
the Indians held aloof; "they paid no attention to anything ex- 
cept to receive whatever was offered them, except provisions. 
This circumstance was considered a miracle from Heaven; for 
if they had been as desirous of provisions as they were of cloth, 
they would have left the strangers to die of hunger." More- 
over, they *ook much that was not offered them and even cut 
the sails of the ship to secure the cloth they so much desired. 
Their pilfering finally changed to a determined raid for plunder 
which was successfully resisted, though with some casualties, 
and numbers of the Indians were killed and wounded. Though 
they were then kindly cared for, this unfortunate incident re- 
tarded the conversions. 

After six months' absence, Portola's party returned, report- 
ing the failure of their search; the supply vessel failed to 
arrive, and the provisions were almost exhausted, so it seemed 
that the expedition would be forced to return and abandon the 

5 



MISION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA 
enterprise. But on the last day set by Portola, the vessel was 
seen as if in answer to the prayers of the good Father, he 
having in the meantime, fully determined to remain "with 
some of his companions and sacrifice himself for the love of 
God and for the advancement of His glory." 

Two expeditions were soon started to renew the search 
for the lost port, Father Serra going with one of them. Fathers 
Parron and Gomez were left in charge; but, their health 
failing, they were relieved by Fathers Jayme and Dumetz 
who carried on the work faithfully, struggling at first against 
the serious lack of provisions that almost forced the abandon- 
ment of the Mission, and striving to win over the Indians 
who proved both thievish and abusive. Much progress was 
made, however. In 1774, there were seventy-six neophytes 
and the day before the feast of St. Francis, October 4, 1775, 
sixty converts were baptized. But a month later, the hatred 
of the Indians 'was stirred into action; and, on the night of 
November 4, 1775, they made a fierce attack upon the Mission. 
Father Jayme, "with the shining light of martyrdom in his 
eyes, and the fierce joy of fearlessness in his heart," endeavored 
to quell the attack by quietly walking towards the mob with 
a blessing and his usual salutation, "Love God, my children!" 
But this was without avail, and he was ruthlessly slain. The 
rest of the defenders protected themselves in a brick kitchen 
until morning, when the Indians gave up the attack and re- 
tired to the mountains. 

The Mission buildings were destroyed in this insurrection. 
Through the efforts of Father Serra, a new church to be built of 
adobe was started after some difficulty and completed in 1780. 

In 1800, San Diego was the most populous Mission in Cali- 
fornia, with fifteen hundred and twenty-three neophytes; its 
vineyard was surrounded with five hundred yards of adobe 
wall; its fields were irrigated with water brought through an 
aqueduct from Cajon Valley, three and a half miles away, 
where a dam of granite and cement twelve feet thick had been 
built to store the supply, and is to-day in nearly perfect condi- 
tion though filled with drift; its crops were kept in a large 
tile-roofed granary; order prevailed and prosperity abounded. 

In 1835, Richard Henry Dana visited the Mission and gives 
in "Two Years Before the Mast" the following interesting ac- 

6 



MISION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA 
count of his impressions: "After a pleasant ride of a couple of 
miles, we saw the white walls of the Mission, and fording a 
small river, we came directly before it. There was something 
decidedly striking in its appearance; a number of irregular 
buildings connected with one another, and disposed in the 
form of a hollow square, with a church at one end, rising 
above the rest, with a tower containing five belfries, in each 
of which hung a large bell, and with an immense rusty iron 
cross at the top. We drove into the open square in which 
the stillness of death reigned. On one side was the church; on 
another a range of high buildings with grated windows; a 
third was a range of smaller buildings or offices; and the fourth 
seemed to be little more than a high connecting wall." 

To-day, there is little more than the fachada of the church 
remaining and that little it has been necessary to protect 
carefully by shingled roofs and braces and protecting walls to 
keep it from falling and melting away. 

The picturesque Mission palms, however, still flourish 
nearby, nearly as old as the ancient group at Old Town, out- 
living the handiwork of the Fathers. 

ASISTENCIA DE SANTA ISABEL. The chapel of 
Santa Isabel was founded September 15, 1821 by Father 
Payeras accompanied by a party from San Diego. Adobe 
buildings were erected, but to-day only a portion of one of 
the walls remains and forms one end of the chapel that each 
season is brought into new being. "When the festival time ap- 
proaches, this picturesque church 
springs into beauty as if by mag- 
ic. The walls are made of ver- 
dant boughs, interwoven with 
branches of green, and wild 
flowers are brought in to decor- 
ate the altar — a pathetic evi- 
dence of the sincerity of the 
worshippers of the district." The 
old bells are hung on a rude 
framework of logs, and a tall 
cross of saplings marks the con- 
secrated spot. 



THE 

HUMBLE 
CHAPEL OF 
BRANCHES 
AND TULES 
AT SANTA 
ISABEL 
— C.C.Pierce 




MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO (EL CAR- 
MELO), THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENTES 
THE LOST PORT OF MONTEREY LOCATED 

"TET those who come here come 
.Ly well provided with patience 
and charity, and let them possess 
good humor, for they may be- 
come rich — I mean in troubles; 
but where will the laboring ox go 
when he must not draw the plow? 
And if he do not draw the plow, 
how can there be a harvest?" Thus 
quaintly and with good cheer does 
Father Serra, writing from his 
own Mission of San Carlos Bor- 
romeo in August, 1772, hint at the 
difficulties of his work — but the 
harvest shows that he overcame 
them and followed the plow right 
sturdily. 

The settlement of Monterey was an event of notable impor- 
tance to both Church and State. It was the point farthest 
north in the original plan of colonization, and there were to 
be placed the Presidio of the government and the Church of 
the Father-Presidente. The year before, Portola's party had 
started from San Diego to find this port that had been de- 
scribed in the narrative of Don Sebastian Vizcaino's expedi- 
tion in the year 1603, but had been unable to recognize the 
landmarks and had journeyed on to make the greater discov- 
ery of San Francisco Bay. The records show that the ex- 
plorers had spared no effort to succeed in their search, but 
when their supplies ran low they were forced to return to 
San Diego, and from there, but for the arrival of the belated 
ship, "San Antonio," bringing bountiful supplies, they would 
have been compelled to return to the southern settlements. 
This, fortunately, was not necessary and two parties were at 
once fitted out to renew the search, one to go by land and the 
other by water. Father Crespi, undaunted by his six months' 
journey, joined the land party and started once more over the 

8 



CARMEL MIS- 
SION PROM 
THE ADOBE 
RUINS — 
Maude Jay 
Wilson 


| 






J 






>:"'.' ' H 


%J 






iermann O. AJbrecht 



MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO (EL CARMELO) 






The Fathers of Mision San Carlos, two 
leagues from Monterey, soon came to the 
Presidio; as kind to us as the officers of 
fort and frigates, they insisted on our going 
to dine with them and promised to acquaint 
us in detail with the management of their 
Mission, the Indian manner of living, their 
arts and customs, in fact, all that might 
interest travelers. We accepted with eager- 
ness * * After having crossed a little plain 
covered with herds of cattle, we ascended 
the hills and heard the sound of bells an- 
nouncing our coming. We were received 
like lords of a parish visiting their estates 
for the first time. The President of the Mis- 
sions clad in cope, his holy- water sprinkler 
in hand, received us at the door of the 
church illuminated as on the grandest festi- 
vals; led us to the foot of the altar and 
chanted a Te Deum of Thanksgiving for 
the happy issue of our voyage. Before en- 
tering the church we had crossed a plaza 
where Indians of both sexes were ranged 
in line, their faces showed no surprise and 
left room for doubt if we should be 
the subject of their conversation 
for the rest of the day. 

Jean Francois Galaup de la Perouse, 
relating his visit in Sep- 
tember, 1786. 



MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO 
route he had so recently traveled. "When they neared the 
end of their journey, they were surprised to find that the cross 
they had erected the year before "was surrounded by arrows 
and little rods tipped with feathers, and at one side was a 
string of half-spoiled sardines, a pile of mussels and a piece 
of meat." Later the Indians assured them that the cross 
"seemed at night to almost touch the sky, and was surrounded 
with rays of heavenly light; but in the daytime, seeing it in 
its usual proportions, and, to propitiate it, they had offered it 
flesh-meat and fish; observing that it partook not of their 
feast, they presented arrows and feathers, as a token that they 
were at peace with the holy cross and with those who had 
planted it." 

"Our hearts were touched, seeing, that in a way, the gen- 
tiles offered some homage to the sacred wood, though with- 
out knowledge of what it represented," and, thus encouraged, 
they turned their eyes to the sea, and, "as the day was clear, 
we saw the long sweep of coast formed by this point of pines, 
and the other we supposed to be Point Ano Nueva, and we 
remarked that the sea through all this great sweep was as 
smooth as milk." Then Crespi and Fages, together broke out 
and said, "Why this is the Port of Monterey, for it is as Sebas- 
tian Vizcaino tells, to the very letter." 

Father Serra, feeble from illness, went with the sea party 
before referred to, and arrived seven days later. They were 
received with great joy, and, landing the following day, ex- 
changed congratulations over the happy result of their efforts. 
Father Serra thus writes. of the combined religious and civil 
ceremonies that followed: "On the third of June, 1770, being 
the holy day of Pentecost, the whole of the officers of sea and 
land, and all the people, assembled on a bank at the foot of an 
oak, where we caused an altar to be erected, and the bells to 
be rung; we then chanted the Veni Creator, blessed the 
water, erected and blessed a grand cross, hoisted the royal 
standard, and chanted the first mass that was ever performed 
in this place; we afterward sang the Salve to Our Lady be- 
fore an image of the most illustrious Virgin which occupied 
the altar; and at the same time I preached a sermon, conclud- 
ing the whole with a Te Deum. After this, the officers took 
possession of the country in the name of the King, our Lord, 



MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO 

(whom God preserve). We then all dined together in a shady 
place on the beach; the whole ceremony being accompanied 
by many volleys and salutes by the troops and vessels." 

Father Serra now occupied himself with the development 
of the Missions and the administration of San Carlos. He 
soon suspected that the proximity of the soldiers at the Pre- 
sidio was a determent to the conversion of the Indians and 
tramped over the surrounding hills looking for a desirable 
site to which to move the Mission. This was found in the 
Valley of Carmel, five miles away, which Palou describes as 
"in a pleasant situation, being on a rising ground with a wide 
plain in view, very fit for cultivation. It has a good pond on 
the left with plenty of water, especially in the rainy season, 
and even in the summer it keeps supplied with wells within it. 
In flood-time, it would be easy with a levee of a hundred 
yards long to keep enough water to irrigate all that is needed 
of the plain. The Mission is enclosed by hills with good feed 
on them for cattle, and it has plenty of firewood and also 
timber to work. Round it are several rancherias of gentiles, 
who quickly visited us and became converts not much later." 
This shows the practical features that the Fathers looked for 
in selecting the locations and that their enthusiasm was wisely 
tempered with a clear-headed knowledge of the work before 
them. The location being decided upon, before making the 
change, Father Serra went personally on an exploration to 
select a suitable site for Mision San Antonio de Padua, and 
that being found and the Mission established, as will be told 
later, he returned and immediately devoted himself to the 
labors of preparing the new buildings and made the formal 
transfer in December of 1771. The Mission then prospered 
and in 1773 the converts at San Carlos were numerous. 

Portold's mission having been completed with the settle- 
ment of Monterey, he left the command with Lieutenant Fages 
and returned to San Bias. The new regime was not auspicious. 
Fages was of a harsh, irritable temper and friction among his 
men ensued, while his petulant arrogance towards the Fathers 
interfered seriously with the development of the Mission work. 
As he even interfered with the transmission of the correspond- 
ence of the Fathers, which had to be sent through his care, 
Father Serra felt it necessary to visit Mexico to lay the 

10 



MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO 
condition of affairs before the new Viceroy, Bucareli. In 1772, 
at sixty years of age, he made this strenuous journey, going 
on foot from San Bias and nearly succumbing to an attack of 
fever while on the way. He reached his destination in Feb- 
ruary, 1773, and successfully pleaded his case at the Mexican 
Court. The Quaker-like simplicity of the country friar and the 
homely nature of many of the details of his memorial with its 
blending of shrewd common sense and child-like simplicity of 
language was in striking contrast to the elevated rank of the 
personages he addressed. His recommendations varied from 
matters of the utmost importance, such as the removal of 
Lieutenant Fages and the continued maintenance of a packet 
station at San Bias, to such humble details as the proper 
packing of supplies about which he quaintly remarked: "I 
think it would be well if Your Excellency would caution the 
storekeeper at San Bias to pay more heed to his packing of 
provisions. No meat at all came last year, and what came 
this year, besides being little in quantity, was so dry and 
wormy that the people said it was the remnant of the year 
before." As a result of his mission, among other concessions, 
Captain Rivera was appointed to succeed Lieutenant Fages, 
and the grievances complained of were removed. 

Father Serra, returning to Monterey, traveled overland 
on foot, visiting on his way all the Missions at that time es- 
tablished and continued his work (incidents of which will be 
referred to in the following chapters) with characteristic 
energy. 

The present building at Carmel was begun in 1793, the 
first stone being laid July 9, and was completed and dedicated 
in September, 1797. "It was, perhaps, the most beautiful, 
though not the grandest of the Mission churches, and its ruins 
have to-day a charm for exceeding-all the others," wrote Helen 
Hunt Jackson, before the restoration. "The fine yellow tint of 
the stone, the grand and unique contour of the arches, the 
beautiful star-shaped window in the front, the simple, yet 
effective lines of carving on pilaster and pillar and doorway, 
the symmetrical Moorish tower and dome, the worn steps lead- 
ing up to the belfry, all make a picture whose beauty apart 
from hallowing associations is enough to hold one spellbound. 
Reverent Nature has rebuilt with grass and blossoms even 

11 



MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO 
the crumbling window-sills, across which the wind blows from 
the blue ocean just beyond." And a few years later J. Torrey 
Connor saw it "weather-stained and neglected with around 
it the shifting sand drifted deep. On a bright summer day, the 
scene takes on an aspect of rare beauty. Imagine the creamy 
walls of Carmelo silhouetted against the cloudless sky; in the 
foreground a riot of color, blue, crimson, gold and white, for 
spring-time has spread a carpet of flowers that Summer may 
walk thereon. Beyond, where the ocean creeps up to the 
sand, a dazzling line of white foam, that advances and retreats 
with the ocean's ebb and flow." 

The situation is indeed an element of the Mission's charm. 
"Tranquil hills, clouded here and there with pines, rise on 
two sides; a peaceful river flows silently by, and at a little 
distance lies the blue and golden curve of the ocean, broken by 
flash of surf where the tide is leaping on the river-bar. The 
only houses in sight are a quiet farm and the little flowery 
dwelling of the Mexican who acts as caretaker." Thus pleas- 
antly does J. Smeaton Chase draw the picture in "California 
Coast Trails." 

The architecture is different from that of any other of the 
Missions, possibly to give i% individuality as the home of the 
Presidentes. The tower, a model of proportion, is square up to 
the beginning of the roof, and is crowned by an octagonal 
drum supporting the egg-shaped dome which is surmounted 
by an ornament holding up the cross. The simple, but beauti- 
fully, designed star-window of the fachada under the semi- 
circular cornice and the ornamental doorway are harmonious 
features of the rather heavy building. For many years the 
church was in ruins and neglected. In 1852, the tiled roof fell 
in, and most of the tiles were broken or stolen. Through the 
efforts of Father Cassanova, the graves of Presidentes Serra 
and Lasuen and Fathers Crespi and Lopez were discovered 
in the church in 1882 and public interest was created to pro- 
vide funds for the restoration, which was accomplished, and 
the church rededicated in 1884. 

The new work, except for the shingle roof, is not obtrusive, 
and the restored portions have been toned to match as nearly 
as possible the color of the original yellow stone. The tower 
is almost in its original condition and its bell peals out the call 

12 






You will find a valley in the county of 
Monterey, drained by the river of Carmel— 
a true Californian valley, bare, dotted with 
chaparral, overlooked by quaint, unfinished 
hills. The Carmel runs by many pleasant 
farms, a clear and shallow river, loved by 
wading kine; and at last, as it is falling 
towards a quicksand and the great Pacific, 
passes a ruined Mission on a hill. From 
the church the eye embraces a great field 
of ocean, and the ear is filled with a contin- 
uous sound of distant breakers on the shore. 
The roof has fallen; the ground-squirrel 
scampers on the grass; the holy bell of St. 
Charles is long dismounted; yet one day in 
every year the church awakes from silence, 
and the Indians return to worship in the 
church of their converted fathers. I have 
seen them trooping thither, young and old, 
in their clean print dresses, with those 
strange, handsome, melancholy features, 
which seem predestined to a national cal- 
amity; the Mission church is in ruins; the 
rancheria, they tell me, encroached upon 
by Yankee newcomers; the little age of gold 
is over for the Indian; but he has had 
a breathing-space in Carmel Valley 
before he goes down to the dust 
with his red fathers. 

From "Across the Plains" by 

Robert Louis Stevenson, written shortly before 

the restoration of San Carlos 



MISION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO 
to the monthly service. The entrance to the belfry is by 
means of a unique stone stairway on the outside of the build- 
ing. In the interior, the side walls up to the springing of the 
roof are of the original construction, and the sides of the win- 
dows show how by the thickening of the walls the curve of 
the roof was started. A side door with pointed arch and 
beautiful curves also remains; and in a side room is a fragment 
of wall with the old decoration in light green and white, and 
a band of red in sharp contrast. The old pulpit still remains 
and in the sacristy is a lavatory of sandstone of good and 
artistic workmanship. 

THE MONTEREY PRESIDIO CHURCH— The Pre- 
sidio Church was not a Mission, but was under the charge of 
the Mission Fathers. Apparently, there is no record of when 
the building was first erected, but it was restored and enlarged 
about sixty years ago with the financial cooperation of Gov- 
ernor Pacheco. 

"The view from the church is now destroyed by the pres- 
ence immediately before it of a school building, but it formerly 
must have been commanding," writes James. "It stands about 
half a mile from the bay, the deep blue waters and far-away 
hills of the Coast Range, the verdure-clad sandhills below and 
nearby, combining with the long stretch of gray sand of the 
beach to make an unusually lovely setting in a country full of 
beauty. To the left are the pine- 
clad hills, and to the rear and be- 
yond, the foothills of the Gabilan 
Range." 

The building is constructed of 
sandstone, quarried at the rear of 
the church. "With its two ornate 
doorways, it is in many ways as 
interesting as the church of El 
Carmelo. 




THE PRE- 
SIDIO 
CHURCH, 
MONTEREY 
— E. N. Sewell 



13 



MISION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA • THE 
BEAUTY AND PATHETIC DIGNITY OF ITS 
RUINS, SOLITARY AND ALONE 



THE RUINED 
ARCHES OF 
SAN AN- 
TONIO DE 
PADUA 
— H.C.Tibbitts 




' AFTER the bells had been hung on trees and loudly tolled, 
JnL the excited Father-Presidente began to shout like one 
transported: 'Ho, gentiles! Come to the Holy Church; Come! 
Come and receive the faith of Jesus Christ!' His comrade, 
Father Pieras, standing by astonished, interrupted his fervent 
eloquence with the eminently practical remark that as there 
were no gentiles within hearing, it was idle to ring the bells. 
But the enthusiast's ardour was not to be dampened by such 
considerations, and he continued to ring and shout, saying, 
'Let me alone; let me unburden my heart which could wish 
that this bell should be heard by all the world, or at least by 
all the gentiles in these mountains.'" 

Pallou gives us this vivid picture of Father Serra's 
ardour at the founding of Mision San Antonio de Padua. In the 
summer of 1771, Father Serra had taken Fathers Miguel Pie- 
ras and Buenaventura Sitjar, as administrators, with a small 
guard and journeyed inland from Monterey searching for a 
location for the new Mission he proposed to establish. After 
traveling about twenty-five leagues, the party came to a wide 
valley full of oak trees, through which flowed a stream "with 
plenty of water that 'could easily be taken to water the land 
near-by, which was of good quality and large quantity." Here 
they decided to locate, and, on July 14, 1771, the new Mission 
was founded. One gentile, attracted by Father Serra's ardent 
ringing of the bells, appeared — the first instance in which a 
native had been present at the founding of a Mission. 

14 



MISION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA 
After the Holy Sacrifice, Father Serra hastened over to the 
Indian, caressed him, and gave him some little presents hoping 
that he would induce his people to visit the Mission and re- 
marked: '"I hope to God, and in the virtue of the intercession 
of San Antonio, that this Mission will be a settlement for many 
Christians; for we see, what was not observed at the founding 
of the Missions thus far established, that at the first Holy Mass 
the first fruit from paganism has assisted.' And, that same 
day," says Palou, "many gentiles came from their rancherias 
for the strange sight, and when they learned by signs why the 
strangers had come, they showed much joy. They showed it 
by coming in numbers and by great gifts of pine-nuts and 
seeds they brought us. Their friendly attitude and readiness 
to associate with the strangers caused Father Serra intense 
joy during the fifteen days that he remained at San Antonio, 
and he left to return to San Carlos 'feeling sure it would be a 
great Mission through the many gentiles there and their good 
will/" 

The necessary buildings were at once started, the Indians 
willingly assisting in the work. Within two years' time, church ' 
and dwellings of adobe had been built, and one hundred and 
fifty-eight neophytes had been baptized and enrolled. Indeed, so 
great was the success, that the anger of the gentile Indians 
was excited over the conversion of so many of their people, 
and, in 1774, they attacked the Mission, wounding an Indian 
about to be baptized, but with no other serious result. The 
leaders were captured by soldiers sent from Monterey and 
mildly disciplined. The site proved a productive one, finally 
including several large farms, famous for the fine wheat grown. 
The flour was ground in a curious mill driven by water brought 
through a stone-walled ditch for many miles, operating on a 
horizontal water-wheel that had been built by an Indian, after 
the idea of a balance-wheel of a watch. 

A story is told of how, in 1780, "so severe a frost took place, 
on the first day of Pascua of the Resurrection, that a field of 
wheat which was shot and in flower, became as dry as if it 
had been stubble. This was regarded as a great misfortune, 
but the Fathers encouraged the faith of the Indians, and, at 
the same time, caused the field to be artificially irrigated, so that 
new blades sprang from the roots and grew rapidly, and the 

15 



MISION SAN ANTONIO DE PADAU 
grain was ripe at the same time as in former years with an 
abundant harvest. The Fathers acknowledged this to be a 
special miracle which the Lord deigned to work in their favor 
by the interposition of the holy patron, San Antonio, and ren- 
dered affectionate thanks accordingly." 

The Mission was possessed of very fine tile-roofed adobe 
buildings before 1800, but in 1810 work was started on the 
construction of a larger church, which is doubtless the one seen 
in ruins to-day. The main part of the building is of adobe, but 
the fachada and the arched corridor are of brick and well 
preserved. The Mission is acknowledged to have been one of 
the most beautiful, and, while not so large or so rich as some 
others, it was not surpassed in the artistic beauty and arrange- 
ment of its buildings. Carter speaks of the resemblance of its 
fachada to that of San Diego but remarks that "with its tall 
arched openings for doorways below, for belfry above and with 
its flanking buttresses-like turrets — each with arched open- 
ing in which was hung a bell — it was much more graceful and 
elaborate." 

In 1830, Robinson visited San Antonio and "found Father 
Pedro Cabot, the present missionary director, to be a fine, 
noble-looking man, whose manner and whole deportment 
would have led one to suppose he had been bred in the courts 
of Europe, rather than in the cloister. Everything was in the 
most perfect order; the Indians cleanly and well-dressed, the 
apartments tidy, the workshops, granaries and storehouses 
comfortable and in good keeping." 

In contrast to this picture of past prosperity, Chase describes 
its present condition: "At the north end of the valley, where 
the hills closed together, it stands, ruined and solitary, on the 
east bank of the river, looking down the sunny, oak-filled 
valley. In situation it was, perhaps, the happiest of all the 
Missions, but, like nearly all the others, it has suffered from both 
spoliation and neglect, and the beauty of its setting seems only 
to accent the desolation of its decay. The church, which has 
lately been partly repaired, is a lofty, bam-like structure, with no 
remaining traces of interior decoration or furnishing. The 
facade, built of the durable Mission tiles, is still beautiful in its 
tasteful simplicity, and a few skeleton arches of the quadrangle 
are standing; but the bells have long since disappeared. Instead 

16 






S 
en 

I— t 

O 

z 

CO 

> 
Z 

> 

z 

H 
O 

z 



o 
o 

G 
> 




Up and down the coast went the horseman, 
nor ever was he anxious as against the 
night Each day at sunrise he quitted one 
consecrated portal, to be enfolded beneath 
another at sunset. From San Diego to San 
Luis, from San Luis to San Juan Capistrano, 
from San Juan Capistrano to San Gabriel 
the sea was his guide. From San Fernando 
the mountains led him to San Buenaven- 
tura Here, sea and mountain at rued, San 
Buenaventura confided him to Santa Bar- 
bara, Santa Barbara to Santa Ines, and Santa 
Ines to La Purisima, whence, under escort 
of wide valleys, his course was sure. Nor 
anywhere for lodging, for meat or drink, for 
peaches or pomegranates, for relays of horses 
or for vaqueros, was there cost to him of 
aught The traveler brought to the 
Padres news, which was life, 
and news acquitted him. 

From "California Under Spain 

and Mexico," 

by Irving Richman 



MISION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA 

of vesper chimes, the air was raked by the strident voices of many 
crows, disputing, after their wont, over the choice roosts in the 
cottonwoods. It needed a more violent effort of fancy than I 
was capable of, to hear in the shouts of these pirates the song 
of praise which poets think they detect. In pleasant contrast, 
St. Anthony's swallows, happiest-dispositioned of birds, were 
thrilling with evening joy, and seemed to weave a charm of 
communal friendliness and content about the old crumbling 
building." 

The location is off the beaten track and the Mission is 
little visited, but it better repays a visit both for its interest and 
its situation, than some of those more accessible. "On the 
way to the Mission," writes Carter, "the scene grows con- 
stantly more beautiful until, at the end of the six miles, one 
would think it could not be surpassed. Here the hills draw 
slightly apart to the right and to the left; and, in the opening 
away in the distance, Santa Lucia, the highest peak of the 
range, is seen, hazy-blue in the sunlight. And here, forming 
part of the view and adding the human touch to it, stands 
Mision San Antonio de Padua, deserted, solitary,fast crumbling 
away, yet belonging to the scene still and the chief element of 
interest in it." George Wharton James also gives his tribute 
of praise: "San Antonio appeals to me more than any other 
Mission. There is a pathetic dignity about the ruins, an un- 
expressed claim for sympathy in the perfect solitude of the 
place that is almost overpowering. Oh, the infinitude of care 
and patience and work and love shown in this old building. 
Everything was well and beautifully done; it is so evidently a 
work of love and pride. This builder was architect and lover, 
maker of history and poet; for power, strength, beauty and 
tenderness are revealed on every hand. Every arch is perfect ; 
every detail in harmony with every other; and in location and 
general surroundings it is ideal. San Antonio creek is at the 
rear — exquisite views of fertile valley, rolling foothills and 
tree-covered mountains On every side. It is enclosed in a pic- 
turesque bower of beauty." 



17 



BUTTRESSES 

AND CHOIR 

STAIRWAY 

OF SAN 

GABRIEL 

— H.C.Tibbins 




Ti 



MISION SAN GABRIEL, ARCANGEL AND ITS 
PICTURESQUE CAMPANILE * THE PUEBLO 
CHURCH OF LOS ANGELES 

^HE establishment of San 
Gabriel also was not 
without its touch of picture- 
sque incident. Palou re- 
counts how: "On the tenth 
of August Father Pedro Cam- 
bon and Father Angel Some- 
ra, guarded by ten soldiers, 
with the muleteers and beasts 
requisite to carry the neces- 
saries, set out from SanDiego, 
and travelled northerly by the 
same route as the former ex- 
pedition for Monterey had 
gone. After proceeding about 
forty leagues they arrived at 
the river called Temblores; 
and while they were in the act of examining the ground in 
order to fix a proper place for the Mission, a multitude of Indians, 
all armed and headed by two captains, presented themselves, 
setting up horrid yells and seeming determined to oppose the 
establishment of the Mission. The Fathers, fearing that war 
would ensue, took out a piece of cloth with the image of Our 
Lady de los Dolores, and held it up to the view of the barbari- 
ans. This was no sooner done than the whole were quiet, 
being subdued by the sight of this most precious image; and 
throwing on the ground their bows and arrows, the two cap- 
tains came running with great haste to lay the beads which 
they brought about their necks, at the feet of the sovereign 
queen, as a proof of their entire regard; manifesting at the 
same time, that they wished to be at peace with us. They 
then informed the whole of the neighborhood of what had 
taken place; and the people in large numbers — men, women 
and children— soon came to see the Holy Virgin, bringing food 
which they put before her, thinking she required to eat as others. 
In this manner, the gentiles of the Mission of San Gabriel were 
so entirely changed that they frequented the establishment 



18 



MISION SAN GABRIEL, ARCANGEL 
without reserve, and hardly knew how much to manifest their 
pleasure that the Spaniards had come to settle in their country. 
Under those favourable auspices the Fathers proceeded to found 
the Mission with the accustomed ceremonies; and, under a 
tree, celebrated the first Mass on the Nativity of the Virgin, 
the eighth of September, 1771." 

Father Serra at this time was engaged at Carmel, and 
therefore was not present at the founding of San Gabriel; but, 
under his instructions, it was undertaken from San Diego as 
related above. Lieutenant Fages was prevented from attend- 
ing in person as he desired, by troubles among his soldiers, but 
insisted on sending a larger guard than the Fathers desired, 
which caused the alarm among the Indians and the show of 
hostilities that greeted the appearance of the missionary party. 
Indeed, the lack of dicipline among the soldiers and the acts of 
license and outrage they indulged in against the Indians caused 
several scenes of violence and seriously interfered with the 
work of the Fathers. As Helen Hunt Jackson says, the San 
Gabriel Indians seem to have been a superior race. They spoke 
a soft, musical language, now nearly lost. Their name for God 
signified "Giver of Life," and they had no belief in a devil or 
in hell. They had certain refined usages of politeness and enjoy- 
ed flower games and song contests. Indeed, to such a people 
"the symbols, shows and ceremonies of the Catholic Church 
must needs have seemed especially beautiful and winning," 
and, when their confidence was finally gained by the Fathers, 
they proved receptive to the Mission influence. 

As San Gabriel was located on the direct route from Mexico 
to Monterey and was the first stopping point after entering 
California, it was guarded more carefully than the other settle- 
ments and was successful from the first; and grew rich and 
populous, so that it was able to survive the period of seculari- 
zation and withstand the fierce tide of America's immigration 
that ultimately flowed by its walls, leading a life of usefulness 
to the present day. 

The church, which still remains, with its prominent butt- 
resses (doubtless intended as much for ornament as for use) 
and its picturesque campanile, is a pleasing object from wher- 
ever it may be viewed. It was built under the direction of 
Father Jose" Maria Zalvidea early in the nineteenth century, 

19 



MISION SAN GABRIEL, ARC ANGEL 
the new structure probably being occasioned by the earthquake 
of 1812 that seriously damaged the older buildings. Accord- 
ing to James, the foundations and walls are built of rubble 
stones and cement as far as the windows, brick being used 
above. The roof originally was arched but was partially de^> 
stroyed in one of the earthquakes and a tile roof was substi- 
tuted. It is the buttressed side of the church, with its stairway 
into the choir gallery and its campanile, that serves as the main 
front. The bell tower is beautiful and harmonious in general 
effect. It consists of a solid wall in which are irregular sized 
arches, built to correspond to the different sizes of the bells that 
were to be used. 

During the Mission days, there were several hundred acres 
of vineyard enclosed with a hedge of prickly pear, serving as 
a protection from Indians and roaming animals, and supplying 
with the fruit that came from it a prized article of diet among 
the neophytes. Portions of this hedge still remain. Another 
feature was the stone mill, two miles from the Mission, built 
about 1810 and still preserved; at one time used as a private 
residence and later as a tool house. Both it and the Mission 
were solidly constructed to serve as fortresses of defense should 
trouble with the Indians occur. Taylor was much impressed 
with the massive walls and projecting buttresses of this "Gray 
Gothic church of San Gabriel." Of his visit to the Mission he 
gives this pleasing picture in "Between the Gates": "A wo- 
man unlocked the ancient door, and bare-headed and silent we 
entered in. Some neophyte had written, * Hats off! Pray don't 
talk,' but with the thoughtful there was no need. Hollow as 
a cave and solemn as a tomb, the floor spoke back to the foot- 
fall. We saw the censers and the saints, the crosses and the 
crowns, the tattered tapestries that came from Spain to be un- 
rolled in the desert, all faded like an old man's eyes. We 
stood, and not irreverently, upon the worn stone, dished like the 
scale of Justice, by feet that turned long ago into leaves and 
flowers. Here clouds of incense and vespers rose harmonious, 
and the nocturne, a sweet song in the night, deepened into ma- 
tins in the morning. We did not hear the chime of bells that 
came from the Spanish furnace, rich with gold and silver offer- 
ings that were flung into it, and are heard in every tone of the 
necklace of melody even until this day. They are trinkets as 

20 



THE GARDEN OF SAN GABRIEL 

Here was the garden of olives. We stood 
under fig-trees hung with money purses 
filled with seeds, that paid their way with 
just such coin when the janitrix of four- 
score was a baby in arms. Here were orange 
trees that were bearing in 1800. Sweet 
lemons and sweet limes from Barcelona. 
The scabbards of Toledo blades have clank- 
ed along these rambling alleys, and boots of 
Cordova leather printed off the dust Here 
was a Mission grapevine with a gnarled 
trunk like a great tree, and mother of the 
vines of the valley, that came over from Spain 
in a three-storied castle of a galleon in 
1798, which beat grandly up the 
bay to the embarcadero of the 
Mission of San Gabriel. 

From"Between the Gates," 
by Benjamin F. Taylor 






MISION SAN GABRIEL, ARCANGEL 
safe from all thieves as treasures laid up in Heaven. Borne 
across the sea to a wilderness without a name, they have rung 
out upon the charmed air for a hundred years." 

At San Gabriel, in a building erected for the purpose, the 
visitor may see the splendid drama of the Franciscan Missions 
depictedin the "Mission Play" by John,StevenMcGroarty — the 
first tragic, heroic days at San Diego, the glorious accomplish- 
ment at Carmel, and then the sad tragedy of a great dream 
cruelly broken, the scattered flocks and the ruins of San Juan 
Capistrano — an intense picture poetically presented. 

THE PUEBLO CHURCH OF LOS ANGELES— The 
pueblo (or civil settlement or town) of Los Angeles was found- 
ed in 1781 and colonized under the instruction of the govern- 
ment. The spiritual welfare of the settlers was cared for by 
the Fathers of San Gabriel, at first, doubtless, in some tempor- 
ary structure, but in 1822, on the second of December, the Plaza 
Church was dedicated. The corner stone of the chapel was 
laid as long before as 1814. Little interest was shown by the 
settlers and the work was finally advanced only by contribu- 
tions of supplies, cattle, brandy, wine, etc., from the different 
Missions, which were sold to provide the necessary funds. 
The building is still in use, the oldest church in Los Angeles, 
and is known by the different 
names of "The Plaza Church," 
"The Church of Our Lady," 
"The Church of the Angels" and 
"The Adobe Church." Its for-' 
mal title is "The Church of 
Nuestra Seiiora, Reina de los 
Angeles." 

There may be seen some in- 
teresting relics, including paint- 
ings done by the neophyte In- 
dians, and chorals, vestments and 
paintings brought from Spain in 
the days of old. 




THE 

CHURCH OF 
OUR LADY, 
QUEEN OF 
ANGELS 
—Harold A. 
Parker 



21 



MISION SAN LUIS OBISPO DE TOLOS A • THE 
FIRST MANUFACTURE OF TILES * FATHER 
MARTINEZ' DROLL ENTERTAINMENT 



made his notable journey to 

AN OLD ^^t— ^MF^ J J 

window, ,_ ir 1 ■ , Mexico, he stopped on his way to 

SAN LUIS tM^T ^^^^^B T 

obispo ML pF JHf found the Missionof SanLuis Obispo, 



-H. C.Tibbitts 




T T THEN, in 1772, Father Serra 



performing the usual ceremonies on 
the first of September and leaving 
the following day to continue on his 
way. At that time, only one priest 
was available and Father Serra was 
compelled to suspend the rule re- 
quiring two Franciscans to be sta- 
tioned at a Mission, Father Cavalier 
being left the sole administrator, 
with supplies of only fifty pounds of 
flour and three bushels of wheat. 
Fortunately, the Indians had been 
favorably impressed by the fact that 
some time previous Lieutenant Fages had killed several bears 
(to provide meat for the starving people at Monterey) and 
they assisted the settlement by aiding in the erection of the 
buildings and bringing nuts and roots, upon which the Span- 
iards subsisted until new supplies arrived. As the resources 
of the Mission were so restricted, nothing could be offered the 
Indians much better than that which they already had; and, 
at first, converts were few, there being only twelve reported 
up to the end of 1773, though in 1803 the Mission cared for 
the goodly number of eight hundred and fifty-two neophytes. 
At San Luis Obispo was the first attempt made to manu- 
facture the tiles that, after the successful experiment, became 
such a prominent feature of the buildings of all the Missions. 
The necessity arose from the fact that hostile Indians attacked 
the Mission by discharging burning arrows on the tule roof 
and therefrom the building was destroyed several times. 

Luis Antonio Martinez was one of the best-known Fathers 
who served at San Luis Obispo, beginning his long term in 
1798. He was a jolly character, "portly of figure and gruff of 
speech," and much beloved by both the Spaniards and the 

22 



MISION SAN LUIS OBISPO DE TOLOSA 
Indians. He is the hero of the story told in "Ramona" of how 
to entertain his guests, he "caused to be driven past the corri- 
dors, for their inspection, all the poultry belonging to the 
Mission. The procession took an hour to pass. The Indians 
had been hard at work all night capturing, sorting and guard- 
ing the rank and file of their novel pageant. It would be safe 
to say that a droller sight never was seen, and never will be, 
on the Pacific Coast or any other. Before it was done with, 
the General and his bride had nearly died with laughter." 

The Mission church has been restored, unfortunately with- 
out reference to traditions, and being on a prominent street of 
a busy town, it has lost all of the peculiar Mission individual- 
ity. The walls are boarded, the roof shingled; and, most 
deplorable, a tower "for all the world like an old-fashioned 
New England meeting-house steeple" has been erected. The 
front arcade has been removed, but, at the end, are two 
houses that are left as they were, of adobe and tiles, and the 
old garden, "a quiet square of old-time flowers and arbored 
walks," still flourishes. The Mission is now an attractive par- 
ish church and in that service still does a worthy work, and 
also in a slight way still cares for the Indians — for the Tular- 
enos from the interior valley, "who come periodically to the 
coast to gather shell-fish make their camp as of right in the 
Mission grounds." 

ASISTENCIA DE SANTA 
MARGARITA — This chapel 
was established by the Mission 
Fathers at a spot about fourteen 
miles from San Luis Obispo, on 
a knoll not far from the Santa 
Margarita river, where there 
was a large Indian population, 
which it was the purpose of the 
missionaries to reach and con- 
vert. The buildings were sub- 
stantial, constructed of sandstone 
and brick, but unfortunately little 
trace of them remains to-day. 




THE 

MASSIVE 

STONE 

DOORWAY 

AT SANTA 

MARGARITA 

— C.C.Pierce 



23 



THE 

INTERIOR OF 

THE CHAPEL 

OF MISSION 

DOLORES 

— A. C. Vroman 




MISION SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS (DOLORES) 
THE JOURNEY OF DON JUAN BAUTISTA DE 
ANZA • THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO 

«AND is our founder, St.Fran- 
jHLcis, to have no Mission?" 
asked Father Serra, when he re- 
ceived his instructions from Gal- 
vez, and observed in the first 
plans no reference to the found- 
er of their order; to which Gal- 
vez replied : * 'If St. Francis wish- 
es a Mission, let him show you 
a good port, and then let it bear 
his name." And so when Por- 
tola's party in the year 1769, 
searching for Monterey, had 
passed it by unrecognized, and continued on to the north until 
it reached the greater harbor, the Fathers exclaimed, "on see- 
ing the fine bay at which they had arrived, 'This is the port to 
which the Visitador referred and to which the Saint has led us.' " 
Father Serra readily accepted this interpretation of the dis- 
covery when the news was conveyed to him, and loyally de- 
termined to hasten the foundation of the Mission. But many 
problems intervened and prevented the early accomplishment 
of his wish, and it was not until October, 1777, the year after 
the dedication, that he first visited San Francisco; then, out 
of the gratitude of his heart, standing overlooking the Golden 
Gate, he said: "Thanks be to God that now our Father, St. 
Francis, with the Holy Cross of the Procession of Missions, has 
reached the last limit of the Californian continent; to go farther 
he must have boats." 

The settlement of San Francisco, like that at Monterey, 
was jointly for the Church and the State. Don Juan Bautista 
de Anza, having made a successful journey of exploration, in 
1774, to discover an overland route from Sonora to the Califor- 
nia Missions (on which occasion he was accompanied by 
Fathers Garcds and Diaz), was instructed by Viceroy Bucareli 
to recruit a party of settlers and soldiers in Sonora and Sinola 
and proceed to found a Presidio on the shores of the recently 
discovered bay of San Francisco. 



24 






Bells of the Past, whose long-forgotten music 

Still fills the wide expanse, 
Tingeing the sober twilight of the Present 

With color of Romance! 

I hear you call, and see the sun descending 

On rock and wave and sand, 
As down the coast the Mission voices, blending, 

Girdle the heathen land. 

Borne on the swell of your long waves receding, 

I touch the farther Past; 
I see the dying glow of Spanish glory, 

The sunset dream and last! 

Before me rise the dome-shaped Mission towers, 

The white Presidio; 
The swart commander in his leathern jerkin, 

The priest in stole of snow. 

Once more I see Portola's cross uplifting 

Above the setting sun; 
And past the headland, northward, slowly drifting, 

The freighted galleon. 

From "The Angclus," 
by Bret Harte 



MISION SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS 
The colony, numbering over two hundred persons, was led 
by Anza with great judgment and humanity, and brought safe- 
ly over the sandy deserts and through the Gorgonio Pass, 
heavy with winter snow, not only without loss of life, but with 
the addition of new members by births on the way. After a 
stop at San Gabriel, the expedition reached Monterey March 10, 
1776. Anza explored the San Francisco region personally, to 
decide upon the locations. That for the Mission (on the shores 
of a small lake), was selected on Good Friday and, from the 
day, was called Arroyo de los Dolores, from which the familiar 
name of Mission Dolores was derived. Anza also reached 
Fort Point "where no one had been before," and decided upon 
the neighboring slopes for the location of the Presidio; where- 
upon he returned to Sonora, leaving the colony in charge of 
his lieutenant, Don Jose Joaquin Moraga. 

The last stage of the enterprise was now undertaken. The 
colonists and soldiers, led by Lieutenant Moraga and accom- 
panied by Fathers Palou and Cambon (whom Father Serra 
had authorized to establish the Mission), proceeded overland 
and arrived at their destination in the latter part of June. In 
the meantime their supplies were sent forward by the San Car- 
los, the same vessel that the year before, under command of 
Captain Ayala had sailed through the Golden Gate, the first to 
enter the inner harbor of San Francisco bay. The present voy- 
age, however, was not so auspicious; and, baffled by head winds, 
the San Carlos was driven first nearly to San Diego, and then 
beyond Cape Mendocino, before she worked her way slowly 
down the coast to her destination, which she reached August 18. 
In the meantime, the colonists and missionaries had been busy 
gathering timber and materials for the buildings, which were 
quickly erected with the help of the sailors from the San Car- 
los; so that as Father Palou records: 

"About the middle of September, 1776, the soldiers had al- 
ready built their wooden houses, all duly roofed; the lieutenant 
had his royal house; and a warehouse made of the same ma- 
terial had been completed, of sufficient capacity to contain all 
the supplies that the vessel had brought. It was immediately 
decided that the festival should be celebrated with a solemn pro- 
cession, fixing upon the day as that of September 17, the same 
on which Our Mother the Church celebrated the memory of 

25 



MISION SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS 
the impression of the wounds of our Seraphic Father, Saint 
Francis. And for taking possession of the Mission was fixed 
the fourth day of October, which is the very day of our Sera- 
phic Father, Saint Francis." 

The dedication of the Mission, however, was postponed ow- 
ing to the brief absence of Moraga, and it was probably cele- 
brated on the ninth day of the month. 

The construction of the present building was commenced 
on the day of the dedication and soon replaced the first tem- 
porary structure. The tile roof was added in 1795. To-day, 
only the chapel remains, but that is in an interesting state. 
At no time were there the usual arches, arcades, towers and 
ornamental features of many of the other Missions. The simple 
massive details of the fachada, the four heavy columns flank- 
ing the entrance and supporting the upper portion, where are 
the niches for the Mission bells, and the wide, overhanging roof 
(all of which details are still well preserved) are however, most 
impressive. In their niches the bells may be seen, still hanging 
from the wooden beams to which they are attached by raw- 
hide thongs. It is unfortunate that it was found necessary to 
board up the sides of the building in order to make it safe for 
services to be held, but the interior has been left practically un- 
disturbed. The ceiling is of rough-hewn timbers, painted in dia- 
mond-shaped patterns; the dull red, yellow, blue and white con- 
trasting with the gray adobe walls. The floor for the most 
part is covered with the old red tiles. The entire end of the 
chapel, in the sanctuary, is a mass of carving, colored and gild- 
ed; and, on the side walls are altars supporting images of saints 
— a group of Franciscans on one side, and Saint Charles Bor- 
romeo, the central figure of a second group, on the other. From 
the balcony, through an opening in the ceiling, may be seen the 
rafters of the roof, heavy timbers fastened, like the bells, with 
buckskin thongs. 

"The Mission, which Bret Harte 'gave but a few years long- 
er to sit by the highway and ask alms in the name of the bless- 
ed saints,' has survived his prophecy much longer already than 
he thought, and has been renovated to a better condition than 
the 'ragged senility' in which he saw it," writes Chase. "But 
the churchyard is to-day much as he described it, and I take 
the willow tree growing beside the deep brown wall to be the 

26 



MISION SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS 
same that he noted. The place is rank with vegetation, yet 
not untidy; and even with its modern surroundings, there is a 
gentle quietude about it that seems to me more pleasing and 
humane than the spick-and-span elegance of shaven lawns and 
parterres of formal flowers." 

The churchyard of Dolores is indeed an interesting place, 
rich in associations of San Francisco's pioneer days, and pic- 
turesquely beautiful, for "the kindly spirited Earth Mother has 
given forth vines and myrtle and ivy and other plants in pro- 
fusion that have hidden the old graveled walks and the broken 
flags." George Wharton James thus describes it: "Rose- 
bushes grow untrimmed, untrained, and frankly beautiful; while 
pepper and cypress wave gracefully and poetically suggestive 
over graves of high and low, historic and unknown. For here 
are names carved on stone, denoting that beneath lie buried 
those who helped make California history. Just at the side 
entrance of the church is a stone with an inscription to the 
first governor of California, and farther along is a brownstone 
monument, erected by the famous fire company to Casey, who 
was hung by the Vigliantes — Casey, who shot James King of 
William." 

Dolores parish is now served by a modern church; but, 
annually, in Lent, two services aire held in the old Mission chapel. 



27 



MISION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO ■ A MEL- 
ROSE ABBEY OF THE WEST • ITS STATELY 
STONE CHURCH AND PICTURESQUE RUINS 



RUINS 

OF SAN JUAN 

CAPISTRANO 

—Herman O. 

Albrecht 







SAN Juan Capistrano is judged by all writers to have been 
the most magnificent of all the Mission structures. With 
great thick walls and long, imposing arched cloisters, it was a 
sight beautiful to behold, and now its sad and silent mass of 
ruins is of most romantic beauty and interest. To a recent 
spectator it appeared as "A Melrose Abbey of the West, whose 
ruins, shaken by one day's earthquake to precisely the most 
picturesque point of decay, are worth the whole transconti- 
nental journey to see under the full moon." 

Its first foundation was attempted in 1775. In October of 
that year Father Lasuen set out from San Diego with the 
necessary guard. "When they had arrived at the spot selected, 
a large cross was erected, blessed and venerated and then on 
October thirtieth, the octave of the patron saint, San Juan Ca- 
pistrano, Father Lasuen celebrated Holy Mass in a shelter 
made of boughs," writes Father Zephyrin Englehardt. "A 
great many Indians witnessed this beginning of the Mission, 
and they manifested their satisfaction by helping to cut and 
bring in the timber required for the construction of the chapel 
and temporary dwellings." The work had proceeded for eight 
days and Father Amurrio had just arrived from San Gabriel 
with cattle and supplies, when at this point the work was 
interrupted by the receipt of news of the unfortunate In- 
dian revolt at San Diego, before referred to, and it was deemed 
necessary, after burying the two bells, to retire to San Diego 

28 



•? 

"< 



o 

CO 

W 



M 
O 

> 
o 
W 

CO 

O 

% 

CO 

> 

Z 

(— i 
G 
> 

o 

> 

1-4 

CO 

H 
W 
> 
Z 

o 




Four crumbling walls of rose-stained gray, 
The ancient chapel stands to-day, 
Roofed by the Autumn sky o'erhead, 
A changing canopy outspread, 
Through which the ardent sunlight shines, 
On silent transept, empty shrines, 
Where only little wild things praise; 
And at the vanished altar's base 
A yellow flower, springing up, 
Lifted a gold Communion Cup. 

"The Mission Grail," by 
Agnes K. Gray 



MISION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 
Presidio and await a more auspicious time, Father Serra con- 
fidently expecting that the founding should be concluded "lest 
the enemy of souls come out victorious." 

It was not until two years later that Father Serra had 
overcome the many difficulties and advanced the rebuilding of 
Mision San Diego sufficiently to feel justified in returning to 
San Juan Capistrano. This time he went in person accom- 
panied by Fathers Pablo Mugartegui and Gregorio Amurrio 
and a guard of eleven soldiers, and celebrated the first Holy 
Mass on the feast of All Saints, November 1, 1776, the cross 
erected two years before being still in its place and the bells 
being found and disinterred. Father Serra with characteristic 
energy then went to San Gabriel to hurry necessary supplies 
and returning he advanced beyond his party with but one 
soldier and one convert Indian for escort. "Suddenly they found 
themselves surrounded by a horde of armed and painted sav- 
ages who yelled frightfully and threatened to kill them. When 
the neophyte observed their intention, he shouted in the lan- 
guage of the aggressors that they should beware, because 
many soldiers were coming up behind who would kill them 
all. The artifice succeeded, for the Indians dropped their 
weapons. The good Father now approached them, made the 
sign of the cross on the forehead of everyone, as was his cus- 
tom, distributed glass beads, and dismissed them friends." 

The construction of the first building and the administra- 
tion of the Mission was left with Fathers Amurrio and Mugar- 
tegui who proved both efficient and good men. But perhaps 
the most notable minister of San Juan in her golden days was 
Father Jose Zaloidea of whom is told the following anec- 
dote as set forth in Mrs. Powers' book on the Missions: "Za- 
loidea was a man of great sanctity and devotion, and withal 
possessed with much executive ability and ambition. It was 
he who guided the destinies of San Gabriel for many years 
and who placed her at the head of the Missions in affairs both 
temporal and spiritual. But as age grew upon him, his power- 
ful mental activity waned and we find him wandering about 
the fields of San Juan, whither he had gone as supernumerary 
and for rest, discussing the subtlest problems of the doctrina 
with the cattle about him. It is said that one day while walk- 
ing in the fields, prayer-book in hand and preoccupied in its 

29 



MISION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 
perusal, a mad bull came tearing along the ground, throwing 
up the dirt at every spring, and making straightway for the 
meditating padre. The neophytes laboring near called out to 
him, but before he had heeded them, the bull was upon him. 
Looking up from his book, he cried out "Begone, thou spirit of 
evil!" Raising his head, the animal regarded the friar a moment, 
then lowered his tail and trotted away, leaving the padre un- 
injured to continue his meditation. This the neophytes regarded 
as a providential delivery, attributing his safety to his great 
sanctity and devotion." 

The following instructive account of the Mission is quoted 
from "Little Chapters About San Juan Capistrano," by St. John 
O'Sullivan: "A glance over the place will show how admirably 
it was planned for its purpose. Besides the church for instruc- 
tion and worship, and the living rooms of the padres, and the 
guests' rooms, there were storehouses for provisions and shops 
for the various craftsmen. While a few servants and workmen 
lived in the Mission, the great body of Indians, of whom in 1786 
there were already five hundred and forty-four, lived in small 
adobe houses which clustered about the plaza of the pueblo in 
front of the buildings. The large rooms at the north side of the 
patio and in the northeast corner were the storehouses for 
wheat, barley, hides, tallow and other provisions. In the north- 
west corner were located the shops in which soap, candles, 
blankets, hats, harness and shoes were made. In the south- 
west corner, near the quarters where the children were housed, 
there was a large, flat roof for the drying of fruit, such as 
apples and grapes, but nothing now remains of it. In the front 
building was situated the kitchen of the padres and other occu- 
pants of the Mission building, with its vaulted roof supporting 
the old chimney which still stands as the quaintest and most 
attractive object at the Mission. Next to the kitchen, to the 
east, was the pantry, or dispensa, where the old hand-hewn 
shelves made of hard- wood, and the gallery still stand in place. 
The tule and rawhide construction of the ceiling may be seen 
in this room. The passage-way next to the pantry is called the 
Saguan, which is now the principal entrance to the patio 
within, but the main entrance, of which only tradition now re- 
mains, was situated at the southwest corner just beyond the 
end of the broken arch. 

30 



MISION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 
"The materials used in constructing the Mission were boul- 
ders, adobe, sandstone, wood and iron, beside the tile, mortar 
and rawhide. Boulders were used as foundations for the adobe 
walls, which range from two to seven feet in thickness. Sand- 
stone was used as lintels in the Mission building, and as key- 
stones and skewbacks in some of the arches. All of the big 
church, with its adjoining sacristy, was of the same material. 
It was procured in Mision Vieja, about six miles northeast of 
San Juan. All the smaller stones were carried by the Indian 
neophytes, men, women and children. Each one walked bear- 
ing a stone from the quarry in the hands or upon the head — 
the children with small ones, the grown-ups with larger ones, 
all doing their part according to their strength, so that during 
the work the place resembled a great ant-hill with the busy 
workers going and coming — those passing to the east empty- 
handed, and those coming to the west bearing their burdens. 
The large stones were conveyed in carretas, or bull-rcarts. 
These were fitted with eithertwo or four wheels and the cattle 
wore the yoke upon the horns." 

Probably the oldest part of the Mission still remaining is 
the long building on the east side of the patio, commonly known 
as "Serra's Church" which was used for divine services before 
the completion of the stone church and after its destruction 
until a recent period. 

The church, the ruins of which are now to be seen, was 
planned by Father Gorgonio. Work was begun on it in Feb- 
ruary, 1797. It is in the form of a Roman cross, ninety feet 
wide and one hundred and eighty feet long, built of quarried 
stone, with arched roof of the same material and a lofty tower 
adorning its fachada. The stone-work facings were most 
elaborate, done under the direction of a master mason during 
a period of nine years, and there are examples of most exquisite 
carving in the ruins to-day. 

"The roof was a series of domes, or bovedas, seven in num- 
ber, one of which still stands over the sanctuary. Local tradi- 
tion says that the bell tower in front was so high that it could 
be seen from a point ten miles away to the north, called Los 
Alisos, a short distance southwest of El Toro, and that the 
sound of the bells was carried even farther, that upon the top 
of the tower perched a gilded cock, and that upon the domes, 

31 



MISION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 
over the transept, rose a narrow spire of the large, square Mis- 
sion tile, or ladrillos." 

Of the consecration of this beautiful church which took 
place September 7, 1806, with appropriate splendor and joyful 
feasting, James gives the following description: "Presidente Ta- 
pis was aided by padres from many Missions, and the scene was 
made gorgeous and brilliant by the presence of Governor Ar- 
rillaga and his staff, with many soldiers from San Diego and 
Santa Barbara. Large numbers of neophytes from other Mis- 
sions were also permitted to be present at the rites, and it was 
one of the most elaborate and pretentious events in early Cali- 
fornian history. What congratulations and feastings indoors 
and out there must have been; the visiting padres and the 
Governor and other officials being regaled with the best the 
Mission afforded, and the hordes of Indians crowding the 
rancherias outside, and, likewise, feasting on the abundance 
provided for them on so auspicious an occasion." 

San Juan had prospered well both spiritually and materially. 
In 1800 there were over one thousand neophytes in attendance 
and their labor produced large crops and cared for vast flocks 
of sheep, horses and cattle. Indeed, so substantial was the con- 
dition that the presidios of Santa Barbara and San Diego were 
in debt to a large amount for supplies that had been furnished 
by the Mission. That this was the result of intelligent indus- 
try is shown by the ruins of the acqueducts that conveyed the 
water for the irrigation of the Mission acres, and of reservoirs, 
cisterns and other industrial remains that are still to be seen. 

The Mission was in its golden age, and industry and good 
cheer prevailed when the earthquake catastrophe of 1812 sud- 
denly disrupted the spirit of content. It occurred on a Sunday 
at the hour of morning Mass and threw the great tower down 
on one of the domes which in turn caused the whole mass of 
masonry to come crushing down upon the worshipers, causing 
the death of many. Thus started the decline that was later in- 
creased by neglect and misuse until the magnificent achieve- 
ment of the Fathers melted into the pathetic remains of to-day 
and "when we come upon this picturesque ruin of semi-Moor- 
ish architecture, set in opalescent landscape of green hills and 
purple mountains, we feel we have wandered into another cen- 
tury or become a part of an old-time poem." Thus, graphically, 

32 



■■^■HOTHHi 



hbsbbhbbwi 




Through pillared arches scarred by time, 

Where pitying roses freshly climb, 

And glossy-leaved ivy grows, 

Beyond the tangled garden close, 

Whose weed-grown paths once felt the beat 

Of moccasined and sandaled feet, 

The same gold hill crests touch the blue 

That met the Padre Serra's view; 

And corded, cowled, my heart sees him, 

A shadow in the cloister dim. 

"The Cloister," by 
Agnes K. Gray 



MISION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 
does Adeline Stearns Wing draw the picture: "The church 
was almost exactly like that of San Francisco Antigua, in 
Guatemala, also an earthquake ruin, though not so large. The 
roof, of stone and cement, was a series of domes, surmounted 
by a bell-tower, one hundred and twenty-five feet high. We 
can still see the niches in which statues once stood behind the 
high altar, bits of carving in the stone capitals of pilasters, and 
traces of a delicate greenish-blue frescoing. In the center of the 
dome-shaped ceiling of the sacristy is a curious head of Indian 
workmanship. Four bells hang on the northeast corner. The 
roofs are of tiles, and their red over the cream color of the old 
walls and against the blue sky, makes a series of exquisite pic- 
tures, especially when seen through one of the arches, with the 
red brick showing through the plaster of the pillars. No photo- 
graph can do justice to this scene. Its color and its atmosphere 
are to it what perfume is to a flower — its very soul. In the 
rush of our century Capistrano stands calm and still. Kind 
Nature goes on draping the sad, old ruins of the Mission with 
bewildering lines and colors — or does she wave, in each tiny 
grass and flower on the crumbling walls, a flag of triumph 
over those who invaded her unbroken privacy?" And Chase 
adds this final note: "There remains now a ruin of singular 
beauty: Owl-haunted colonnades of crumbling arches, clustered 
pillars on whose broken filletings the thoughtful moonlight 
loves to linger, a fragment of the dome showing still the quaint 
frescoes of the Indian artisans, and a little nondescript campanile 
of four bells, the pride of old Acu, hereditary ringer of bells to 
San Juan." 



33 



SANTA 

CLARA DE 

ASIS. FROM 

AN OLD 

PAINTING. 

Courtesy of 

Charles B. 

Turrill, Esq. 




MISION SANTA CLARA DE ASIS ■ MUSCU- 
LAR CHRISTIANITY ■ THE UNIVERSITY OF 
SANTA CLARA AND THE MISSION PLAY 

THE foundation of Mision 
Santa Clara followed very 
soon after that of San Juan Capi- 
strano. The party, including 
Father Tomas de la Pefia, Lieu- 
tenant Moraga and nine soldiers, 
started from the Presidio of San 
Francisco and Mission Dolores 
and marched down the penin- 
sula until it arrived at the Rio 
Guadalupe, where an apparently 
suitable location was discovered 
for the settlement, with a good 
volume of running water avail- 
able for the irrigation of the crops soon to be planted. Father 
Pena celebrated the first Holy Mass on January 12, 1777. The 
Mission goods, implements and cattle were quickly brought up 
from Monterey and the first Mission buildings erected. 

The site selected was called by the Indians So-co-is-u-ka, 
meaning laurel-wood, and was their chief rendezvous, as there 
was an abundance of salmon trout in the river and fishing was 
good. However, it did not prove to be satisfactory, as the 
waters caused much trouble and twice rose to such a height 
as to flood the Mission. In 1780 the Fathers removed and re- 
built on higher ground, at a spot where quite recently traces 
were found of adobe walls that are all that remain of what 
was at one time the most elaborate and beautiful church in 
California. It was designed by Father Jose Murguia, who un- 
fortunately passed away and was buried within its walls just 
four days before it was dedicated, on the fifteenth day of May, 
1784, by Fathers Serra, Palou and Pena. 

Here the Mission prospered. Its crops of grain and fruit 
were large, and the number of its converts stood third in the 
list in 1790. The Fathers were good administrators as well as 
spiritual teachers and among their numbers were many who 
stood for muscular Christianity, as is shown by the following 
anecdote told by George Wharton James: "Father Viader 

34 



MISION SANTA CLARA DE' ASIS 
was an athletic man; and one night in 1814, a young gentile 
giant named Marcelo, and two companions attacked him. In 
the rough and tumble fight which ensued the Father came out 
ahead, and after giving the culprits a severe homily on the sin 
of attacking a priest, they were pardoned; Marcelo becoming 
one of his best and most faithful friends thereafter." 

Father Magin Catala was the most dominant personality 
in the history of Santa Clara, leading a most Holy life and de- 
voting it entirely for many years to the welfare of the Mission. 
To him are attributed many miracles. 

The earthquake of 1812 was seriously felt in Santa Clara, 
and a second one in 1818 so injured the buildings that the 
Fathers were compelled to move once more, this time to the 
present site, which was called by the Indians, Gerguensun, 
meaning the Valley of the Oaks. Here the Mission church and 
other buildings were begun in 1818 and dedicated in 1822. 

Santa Clara suffered as all the rest in the political disturb- 
ances of the next period, and in the forties became a regular 
parish church. The last of the Franciscans to rule was Father 
Jose Maria del Real, and after his death, what remained of the 
Mission buildings and lands was transferred to the Society of 
Jesus. In 1851 the Santa Clara College was established in the 
old Mission buildings by the Rev. Father John Nobili, and in 
1855 it was chartered with all the rights and privileges of a 
university. The subsequent growth of the college necessitated 
drastic changes in the old buildings to meet the modern re- 
quirements, so that but little of them remain — the nave having 
been removed in 1885 and the adobe bricks from the walls, 
which were five feet thick, thrown on the plaza behind the 
cross. The reception room, though, is a part of the old cloisters 
with adobe walls about three feet thick. Two of the old Mis- 
sion bells still ring out their chimes, and several old statues and 
the old octagonal pulpit, restored, though not in use, are among 
the honored relics* and in the garden still flourish a few of the 
old olive trees. 

But though most of the material evidence of the old Mission 
has disappeared, its memory is to be kept alive by the perform- 
ance every second year of the "Mission Play of Santa Clara," 
written by Martin V. Merle and produced by the senior Dra- 
matic Club of the university. 

35 



MISION SAN BUENAVENTURA ■ THE LAST 
YEARS OF FATHER SERRA • HIS CALM 
AND DEVOTED PASSING BEYOND 



THE 
GARDEN 
DOORWAY 
OF SAN 
BUENA- 
VENTURA 
—Harold A 
Taylor 




"AT beautiful Ventura-by-the- 
-TTLSea 



a spot so beautiful 
that the soul of the dreamer 
might be wafted to the deep 
domes of the vaulted blue, was 
Mision San Buenaventura loca- 
ted, its pretty gardens planned 
and its adobe houses built for the 
Indians." In the gentle climate 
of the Santa Barbara channel, 
under most favored conditions, 
she prospered so greatly that she 
came to possess "finer herds of 
cattle and richer fields of grain 
than any of her contemporaries 
and her gardens and orchards 
were visions of wealth and beauty." Vancouver, on his second 
voyage to California, visited Father Santa Maria at his Mis- 
sion and leaves us the following interesting description: "I 
found the Mission to be in a very superior style to any of the 
new establishments yet seen," he writes. "The garden of 
Buenaventura far exceeding anything I had before met with 
in these regions, both in respect of the quantity, quality and 
variety of its excellent productions, not only indigenous to the 
country, but appertaining to the temperate as well as torrid 
zone; not one species having yet been sown or planted that had 
not flourished. These have principally consisted of apples, pears, 
plums, figs, oranges, grapes, peaches and pomegranates, to- 
gether with the plantain, banana, coconut, sugar-cane, indigo, 
and a great variety of the necessary and useful kitchen herbs, 
plants and roots. All these were flourishing in the greatest 
health and perfection, though separated from the sea-side only 
by two or three fields of corn that were cultivated within a few 
yards of the surf." 

The present church although sadly restored out of much 
of its historical association, is the same building that was under 
construction at the time of Vancouver's visit. The first struc- 



36 




H. C. Tibbitts 



The vital fact is that whoever "owns" these 
monuments, they are yours and mine, and 
every other one's who cares for beauty and 
romance. They are here, a graphic lesson 
on the blackboard, for us, for our children, 
and our children's children, in secula secu- 
lorum; an example in artistic and archi- 
tectural beauty, in sincerity, in hero- 
ism, and in the manhood which 
can do the impossible. 

By Charles F. Lumtnis 
From "Out West" 



MISION SAN BUENAVENTURA 
tures were destroyed by fire and the new ones, constructed of 
stone and roofed with tiles, were half finished in 1794 and finally 
dedicated in 1809. A few years later it was necessary to rebuild 
the tower and a portion of the fachada which were damaged 
in the same earthquake that so seriously affected San Juan 
Capistrano. Seen in 1895, J. Torrey describes it as a "well-pre- 
served building, its walls still bearing traces of the rude fresco- 
ing affected by the builders of that time. Tall weeds grow up- 
on the very threshold, and swallows build their nests unmolest- 
ed in broken crevices of the wall; yet candles are kept burning 
before the altar as in the days of yore, and in the quaint confes- 
sional, where the Indian neophytes and the stern Spanish 
soldiers knelt, the plea of the penitent is still heard. In the 
walled-in space of consecrated ground nearby, generations have 
been laid to rest; and the ceaseless ebb and flow of human life 
that goes on outside the walls does not disturb their slumber." 

The services consecrating San Buenaventura were cele- 
brated by Father Serra, who was then nearing the end of his 
devout labors and was not destined again to experience the 
keen joy that he always took in the founding of a new Mission 
— the forging of another link in the chain that he hoped 
would result in the complete conversion of the Californias. 

The expedition started from San Gabriel, a large and im- 
pressive party whose extent and importance proved most grati- 
fying to Father Serra. He was accompanied by Father Pedro 
Benito Cambon, who had recently returned from missionary 
work in the Philippine Islands and was recuperating in San 
Diego. The usual ceremonies were rendered on Easter Sunday, 
March 31, 1782 ; Father Serra preaching a sermon on the resur- 
rection of Christ and Father Cambon representing the choir. 

The two succeeding years were filled for Father Serra with 
discouraging problems, which he met with cheerful fortitude 
and constant endeavor. Nine Missions had by that time been 
founded, resulting in the baptism of six thousand Indians, four 
thousand five hundred of whom lived under the material as 
well as the spiritual control of the Fathers. The wealth of the 
Missions and the power of the missionaries excited the jealousy 
of the civil authorities, and plots were laid to restrict all future 
Mission establishments to merely spiritual functions. The 
Fathers wisely realized that the material comforts they ad- 

37 



MISION SAN BUENAVENTURA 
ministered and the gifts they could offer were "the bait for 
spiritual fishing" and without them they could neither entice the 
Indians in the first place to "love the Doctrine and Christian 
submission " nor continue to hold them in the faith, for the "neo- 
phytes would leave for the mountains and return to paganism 
as unhappy apostates as soon as the missionary ceases to give 
what they need; and also when they perceive that he has it 
not, they will not obey, nor respect, nor even care to listen, no 
matter how much he may labor and tire himself for their sake." 
Therefore, especially as they enjoyed no personal worldy pro- 
fit, they opposed this intention and refused to establish new 
Missions until they could do so according to their experienced 
judgment. The consequent delay in the advancement of the 
missionary work grieved the Father Presidente exceedingly. 

The interference of the unfriendly Governor was well-nigh 
intolerable and caused many of the missionaries to desire to 
leave the field and retire to the peaceful stalls of their mona- 
stery choir or to exercise their vocation in the confessionals and 
pulpits of Mexico, and the tact of Father Serra expressed in 
gentle and friendly manner, was taxed to the extreme to recon- 
cile them to the adverse conditions and to prevent a general 
abandonment of the undertaking. By humorous analogy, wri- 
ting of the Friar who was induced to stay in the choir by his 
superior saying, "Brother stay in your place for God's sake. 
I assure you that if we all who are here in a poor mood should 
have to leave there would be no matins, because we should all 
march out and I should be the first one," and by sweet-souled 
appeal saying, "Our regulations do not bind your Reverence 
longer. Justice does not oblige you, let charity do so. Have 
this charity for the poor Indians, your Reverence, whilst God 
gives you health for the labors His Holy grace will not fail you" 
— and by such means he held them to their posts. 

In August, 1783, Father Serra took passage in the San Car- 
los for San Diego, and at the age of seventy he from there start- 
ed on foot on the long journey up the coast, visiting all the 
Missions, confirming the neophytes and saying a last farewell 
to his beloved Fathers and friends. Along the Santa Barbara 
channel he passed many Indian villages where no Mission had 
yet been established and at each one "his heart melted through 
his eyes," writes Father Palou, "because he could not irrigate 

38 



MISION SAN BUENAVENTURA 
that soil with his blood in order to convert it, he would irrigate 
it with the tears that were generated by his fervent desire, ex- 
claiming, 'Pray ye therefore the Lord of this vineyard that He 
send laborers into His vineyard.' " 

Father Palou writes of the fierce scourging that he inflict- 
ed on himself, beating his breast with a big stone while preach- 
ing, and other violent devices to punish his body and impress 
his hearers with his doctrines. To all this pain and the serious 
malady from which he suffered continually he was indifferent 
and to the last he devoted himself to his apostolic work. Feel- 
ing his end approaching he requested Father Palou to come to 
San Carlos and assist him to die, and after his arrival desired 
to receive the Holy Viaticum in church. "Father Palou tried 
to persuade him to have his little room prepared for the visit 
of his Divine Majesty, but Father Serra replied that he would 
receive Holy Communion in church since, as long as he could 
go there on foot, there was no reason why the Lord should 
come to him at the house." 

"When the saintly Father reached the sanctuary he knelt 
before a small table placed there for the purpose," writes Father 
Palou. "I came vested from the sacristy and went to the altar. 
While I prepared to put incense into the censer to begin the 
Holy ceremony, the fervent servant of God with his usual 
natural and sonorous voice, just as he was wont to do when 
well, intoned the verse Tantum ergo Sacramentum, tears 
streaming from his eyes the while. I administered the Holy 
Viaticum with the ceremonies of the ritual. When this most 
edifying function, the like of which under such circumstances 
I have never seen, was concluded, the Holy man remained on 
his knees in the same posture giving thanks to the Lord. Hav- 
ing finished his devotion he returned to his cell escorted by 
the whole people." 

In the afternoon of the next day, Saturday, August 28, 1784, 
he expired without any sign of agony at the age of seventy 
years, nine months and four days. On the next day, Sunday, 
the remains were deposited in the grave prepared for them in 
the sanctuary, close to those of Father Juan Crespi. 



39 



THE 

DOORWAY 

TO THE 

CEMETERY, 

SANTA 

BARBARA 

—Harold A. 

Taylor 




MISION SANTA BARBARA ■ THE BEST PRE- 
SERVED OF ALL THE MISSIONS ' THE 
FRANCISCAN APOSTOLIC COLLEGE 

AS we advanced, the buildings 
jt\.of the Mission appeared un- 
der a finer aspect. From the road- 
stead we could have taken it for a 
chateau of mediaeval times, with 
its lofty apertures and its belfry; 
coming nearer, the building grows, 
and without losing anything of its 
beauty takes on, little by little, a 
religious appearance; the turret be- 
comes a spire; the brass, instead 
of announcing a knight's arrival, 
sounds the Office or the Angelus; 
the first illusion is destroyed, and 
the castle is a convent. In front of 
the building, in the middle of a huge square, is a playing foun- 
tain, the workmanship of which, imperfect as it was, surprised 
us the more, since we had not expected to find in this country, 
otherwise so removed from the fine things of Europe, this sort 
of luxury, reserved among us for the dwellings of the most 
wealthy." 

This is the description written by Duhaut-Cilly on his visit 
to California during his voyage in 1827, of the Mission that 
still stands the best preserved and the best known of all those 
erected by the painful labor of the Spanish Fathers. It was 
never so abandoned and abused as the others and is still cared 
for by the Franciscan missionaries, kept in substantial repair 
and filling a sphere of worthy service. Of all that remains of 
the Spanish days, it is first in interest, "standing on the high 
ground at the rear of the city, the gray old building, drowsing 
in the sun, with its red-tiled corridors and twin-domed belfries, 
sheds an air of Spanish languor, of perpetual siesta, over the 
pleasant city." 

Its founding was long delayed owing to the determination 
of Governor Neve, occasioned it is claimed, by the jealousy of 
the military over the material power of the Fathers, that the 
system of management that had thus far been followed in 



40 





■■■BHmMhEHU^H^H^^IHHm 







Stand here, and watch the wondrous birth of Dreams 
From out the Gate of Silence. Time and Tide, 
"With fingers on their lips, forever bide 
In large-eyed wonderment, where Thoughts 

and Themes 
Of days long flown pass down the slumbrous streams 
To ports of Poet-land and Song-land. Side 
By side the many-colored Visions glide, 
And leave a wake where fancy glows and gleams. 

And then the bells ! One stands with low-bowed head 

While listening to their silver tongues recite 

The sweet tales of the Angelus — there slips 

A white dove low across the tiling red — 

And as we breathe a whispered, fond "Good night," 

A "Pax Vobiscum" parts the Padre* s lips. 

"In a Mission Garden " 
by Clarence Urmy 



MISION SANTA BARBARA 
California should be changed and all control of temporal affairs 
be taken from the hands of the Fathers — this in the face of 
the disastrous experiences that had followed the experiment in 
the Missions on the Colorado River. 

Father Serra attended the establishment of the presidio of 
Santa Barbara, which followed immediately after the founding 
of San Buenaventura. "On the feast of the Patronage of St. 
Joseph, occurred the blessing and erection of the great Cross, 
the blessing of the locality, the first Holy Mass and sermon, 
and the founding of this Mission-Presidio of Santa Barbara, 
Virgin and Martyr, on the land of yamnonalit" he writes. 
"I was and am alone, and therefore the Holy Mass was a 
Low Mass and in place of the Te Deum we had the Alabado, 
which is equivalent to the Laudamus. May God bless it. 
Amen." He expected to found the Mission shortly thereafter, 
and his last days were saddened by the delay. 

In 1786, the new governor, Pedro Fages, finally authorized 
the continuance of the old conditions, and on December fourth 
Father Lasuen, the successor to Father Serra, assisted by 
Fathers Paterna and Oramas, performed the ceremonies al- 
though, owing to the absence of Governor Fages, the first 
Mass was not said until December sixteenth. 

Then followed the usual scenes of activity, the construction 
of the necessary buildings and the development of agricultural 
and industrial as well as of religious efforts. The first build- 
ings were begun early in 1787 with the assistance of Indian 
workmen who had first to receive elementary instruction — 
a chapel, a dwelling for Fathers Paterna and Oramas who 
were in charge, quarters for the girls and unmarried women, 
and others for the male servants; a granary, carpenter-shop, 
and other buildings — all constructed of adobe, with walls a yard 
thick and at first roofed with a straw thatch but the following 
year covered with tiles that were by then manufactured at 
the Mission. 

"In succeeding years other structures arose on the rocky 
height as the converts increased and industries were intro- 
duced," writes Father Engelhardt. "At the end of 1807 the 
Indian village, which had sprung up just southwest of the main 
building, consisted of two hundred and fifty-two separate adobe 
dwellings harboring as many Indian families. The present 

41 



MISION SANTA BARBARA 
Mission building, with its fine corridor, was completed about 
the close of the eighteenth century. The fountain in front arose 
in 1808. It furnished the water for the great basin just below, 
which served for the general laundry purposes of the Indian 
village. The water was led through earthen pipes from the 
reservoir north of the church, which to this day furnishes 
Santa Barbara with water. It was built in 1806. To obtain 
the precious liquid from the mountains, a very strong dam 
was built across 'Pedragoso' creek about two miles back of 
the Mission. It is still in good condition. Then there were 
various structures scattered far and near for the different 
trades, since everything that was used in the way of clothing 
and food had to be raised or manufactured at the Mission. 

"The chapel grew too small within a year from the time it 
was dedicated, Sunday, May 21, 1787. It was therefore en- 
larged in 1788, but by the year 1792, this also proved too 
small. Converts were coming in rapidly. The old structure 
was then taken down, and a magnificent edifice took its place 
in 1793. Its size was twenty-five by one hundred and twenty- 
five feet. There were three small chapels on each side, like 
the two that were attached to the present church. An earth- 
quake which occurred on Monday, December 21, 1812, dam- 
aged this adobe building to such an extent that it had to be 
taken down. On its site rose the splendid structure, which is 
still the admiration of the travelers." 

An excellent picture of the strenuous tasks and difficult 
problems that confronted these Spanish missionary builders is 
given by Duhaut-Cilly. He writes: "Here everything is in the 
rough, even to the men, and the first care of the builder was 
to mold his workmen. It was necessary to make bricks (adobes) 
and tiles from the mere earth; to cut down, at a distance, large 
trees, and bring them, by main strength of the workmen, over 
roads made expressly for this purpose, through the valleys and 
over precipices; to gather laboriously, on the shore, shells for 
making lime, — in fine, this edifice cost preliminary work, down 
to the slightest detail, which must have increased considerably 
the difficulties. At the same time, one is astonished by the 
boldness of the design and the firmness of its execution? noth- 
ing but a boundless zeal for the spread of religion has enabled 
Padre Ripoli to be victorious over so many obstacles. How- 

42 



MISION SANTA BARBARA 
ever, he did not use much more time for finishing the building 
than would have been necessary in Spain." 

The building was under construction, superintended by 
Father Antonio Ripoli, for only five years, from 1815 to 1820, 
and was dedicated on the tenth day of September, 1820. "The 
walls, which are six feet thick, consist of irregular sandstone 
blocks and are further strengthened by solid stone buttresses 
measuring nine by nine feet. The towers, to the height of thirty 
feet, are a solid mass of stone and cement twenty feet square. 
A narrow passage leads through one of these to the top, where 
the old bells still call the faithful to service as of yore. Doubt- 
less, the Santa Barbara Mission Church is the most solid struc- 
ture of its kind in California. It is one hundred and sixty-five 
feet long, forty feet wide and thirty feet wide on the outside. 
Like the monastery, the church is roofed with tiles which were 
manufactured at the Mission by the Indians." 

The right tower had the honor of having a godfather and 
godmother and at the christening or blessing, they walked in 
solemn procession around it, carrying lighted candles in their 
hands and preceded by the friar who sprinkled it with holy 
water and burned incense. The couple had been married the 
day before. The husband being the brother of the Father 
Superior of the Mission, the wedding banquet was spread on 
tables running the whole length of the outer corridor. Helen 
Hunt Jackson writes of the double event, how "for three days 
and three nights the feasting and dancing were kept up, and 
the whole town were bid. In the four long streets of Indians' 
houses, then running eastward from the Mission, booths of 
green boughs, decorated with flowers, were set up in front of 
all the doors. Companies of Indians from other Missions came 
as guests, dancing and singing as they approached. Their In- 
dian hosts went out to meet them, also singing and pouring 
out seeds on the ground for them to walk on." 

The history of the Mission differs little from that of the 
rest. The earthquake of 1812, the visit of Bouchard, the pirate, 
the Indian revolt of 1824 — each of these incidents affected 
many of them alike. In 1842, Garcia Diego, who had been 
appointed Bishop the year before, removed from San Diego to 
make his episcopal residence in Santa Barbara and Robinson 
gives this interesting description of his reception: 

43 



MISION SANTA BARBARA 
"The vessel was in sight in the morning, but lay becalmed 
and rolling in the ocean's swell. A boat put off from her side 
and approached the landing-place. One of the attendants of His 
Excellency who came in it, repaired to the Mission, to commun- 
icate with the Father-Presidente. All was bustle; men, women 
and children hastening to the beach, banners flying, drums 
beating and soldiers marching. The whole population of the 
place turned out to pay homage to this first bishop of Califor- 
nia. At eleven o'clock the vessel anchored. He came on shore 
and was welcomed by the kneeling multitude. All received his 
benediction, all kissed the pontifical ring. The troops and civic 
authorities then escorted him to the house of Don Jose* Anto- 
nio, where he dined. A carriage had been prepared for His 
Excellency, which was accompanied by several others, occu- 
pied by the Presidente and his friends. The females had formed, 
with ornamental canes, beautiful arches, through which the 
procession passed ; and as it marched along, the heavy artillery 
of the Presidio continued to thunder forth its noisy welcome. 
"At four o'clock the Bishop was escorted to the Mission, and 
when a short distance from town the enthusiastic inhabitants 
took the horses from his carriage and dragged it themselves. 
Halting at a small bower on the road, he alighted, went into it 
and put on his pontifical robes; then resuming his place in the 
carriage he continued on amidst the sound of music and the fir- 
ing of guns till he arrived at the church, where he addressed 
the multitude that followed him." 

The influence that preserved Santa Barbara from the neg- 
lect and decay that befell the other Missions was the petition 
in 1853 to Rome that caused it to be erected into a Hospice, 
as the beginning of an Apostolic College for the education of 
Franciscan novitiates, which is still maintained. The spot is 
ideal for the purpose, and the peaceful associations of the beau- 
tiful old building cannot but be of helpful influence. The Mis- 
sion garden, surrounded by the buildings, "with its fine Italian 
cypress, planted by Bishop Diego about 1842, and its hundred 
varieties of semi-tropical flowers, in the center of which is a 
fountain, where goldfish play, affords a delightful place for 
study and meditation." The spot is the center of mysterious 
interest to the gentle sex for into it no woman is permitted to 
enter. From this rule but two exceptions have thus far been 

44 



When the red, molten metals hotly glowed, 

Ready those ancient Mission bells to cast, 
Matrons and maids of old Castile stood by 

And threw therein the relics of the past- 
Vases of silver— whence their Spanish sires 

Quaffed the red wine~and chains and rings of gold; 
And thus, with gifts and prayers, the Mission Bells 

Were cast, and christened all for saints of old. 

By Mrs. Volney Howard 



MISION SANTA BARBARA 
made— once to Princess Louise and again to the wife of Pre- 
sident Harrison. 

A pleasant picture of the peace and contentment that hap- 
pily prevails is given by Samuel Newsom as follows: "The 
ringing of the old Spanish bells, the hum of the humming-birds 
and bees among the flowers, the pigeons cooing in the rafters, 
the smiling faces of the monks and students in their brown- 
tasseled gowns, as they pass on their way to Mass, make an 
indelible impression. But the atmosphere of the place, the 
hushed voices of the monks, the devout gestures of the wor- 
shipers, the dim light and the peaceful spirit of Father Junipero 
Serra which seems to hover over all the Missions and espe- 
cially here, leaves a memory very pleasing and restful to re- 
call. I remember 'twas twilight in the sacred garden. From 
the far fields came the meadow-lark's call. The vesper bells 
were sounding, calling the monks to worship. The odor of the 
orange trees and datura flowers, reinforced with sweet-smell- 
ing herbs, filled the air. The green of the Bishop's cypress 
stood out dark and beautiful against the lichen-covered walls. 
And the rich-hued roof tiles, the last rays of the sun lingering 
on them, illuminated the glorious Bougainvillea vine near the 
choir-room door. Harmonious voices were singing and con- 
tentment reigned." 

And from Helen Hunt Jackson this poetical passage: "The 
Mission buildings stand on high ground, three miles from the 
beach, west of the town and above it, looking to the sea. In 
the morning the sun's first rays flash full on its front, and at 
evening they linger late on its western wall. It is an inalien- 
able benediction to the place. The longer one stays there the 
more he is aware of the influence on his soul, as well as of the 
importance in the landscape of the benign and stately edifice." 



45 



MISION LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION ■ DES- 
OLATE, ABANDONED AND IN RUINS • THE 
INDIAN INSURRECTION 



RUINS OP LA 

PURISIMA 

—Harold A. 

Parker 




*%**• , 



""I3OOR Purisima! Near the river Santa Ines, clustered around 
«L by pretty hills, adversity seemed to claim it for its own. Al- 
most totally destroyed by earthquake in 1812, rebuilt, seized and 
again greatly damaged by Indians in 1824, now in ruins, de- 
serted and alone, it silently awaits its inevitable end." 

"The most desolate ruin of all is that of La Purisima Mis- 
sion," writes Helen Hunt Jackson. "It is in the Lompoc Val- 
ley, north of Santa Barbara. Nothing is left there but one 
long, low, adobe building, with a few arches of the corridor; 
the doors stand open, the roof is falling in; it has been so often 
used as a stable and sheepfold that even the grasses are killed 
around it. The painted pulpit hangs half falling on the wall, 
its stairs are gone, and its sounding-board is slanting awry. In- 
side the broken altar-rail is a pile of stones, earth and rubbish 
thrown up by seekers after buried treasures; in the farther 
corner another pile and hole, the home of a badger; mud-swal- 
lows' nests are thick on the cornice, and cob-webbed rags of 
the old canvas ceiling hang fluttering over the head. The only 
trace of the ancient cultivation is a pear orchard a few rods 
off, which must have been a splendid sight in its day; it is at 
least two hundred yards square, with a double row of trees all 
around, so placed as to leave between them a walk fifty or sixty 
feet wide. Bits of broken acqueduct here and there, and a large, 
round, stone tank, overgrown by grass, showed where the life 
of the orchard used to flow in. It has been many years slowly 
dying of thirst. Many of the trees are gone, and those that re- 

46 



MISION LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION 
main stretch out gaunt and shriveled boughs, which, though 
still bearing fruit, look like arms tossing in vain reproach and 
entreaty; a few pinched little blossoms seemed to heighten 
rather than lessen their melancholy look." 

Chase, while following the California trails, visited it at a 
later date, and says: "As I came into Lompoc I had passed 
the ruins of the original Mission of La Purisima Concepcion, 
distinguished now as the Mision Vieja, or Old Mission, to mark 
it from its successor. It is little more than a heap of adobes, 
but a great crack still shows the means of its demolition by 
earthquake. The second Mission was built some three miles 
to the northwest of the town, where, next day, I found it sleep- 
ing in gentler decay among sober brown hills and acres of 
mustard and beans. It, too, has long been disused, and, as with 
Santa Ines, the heavy rains had wrought havoc with the un- 
roofed walls of adobe. A long row of filleted pillars and one or 
two door and window openings alone give coherence to the 
ruin. Wild mustard waved in profusion around and within the 
precincts. I pitched camp on a clear spot among the tangle of 
weeds, and passed a quiet Sunday in wandering about the old 
place, and in the company of quail, doves and squirrels, and 
echoes and fancies of the past." 

Purisima was the second Mission founded by the new Pre- 
sidente, Father Lasuen. The usual ceremonies were celebrated 
December 8, 1787, but owing to the season of the year, actual 
construction was delayed until after the rains, the first building 
being started in March, 1788. This was doubtless of a temporary 
nature as it was soon replaced with an adobe structure roofed 
with tile and completed in 1802. But again the industry and pa- 
tience of the Fathers were taxed as the severe earthquake of 
1812 totally destroyed the labor of years and the work had once 
more to be started anew. The earthquake was of great sever- 
ity as "the earth opened in several places emitting water and 
black sand," leaving a scar that is still to be seen on the hill- 
side above the ruins of the Mision Vieja referred to by Chase 
in the preceding selection. 

The new Mission was located on a desirable site a few 
miles distant and work was promptly started on its construc- 
tion. James gives an excellent description of its architectural 
features from which the following details are selected. The 

47 



MISION LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION 
peculiar feature is that the church is a part only, or merely a 
large room about eighty feet long of the single building, which 
is about three hundred feet long by fifty feet wide, not includ- 
ing the corridors, ten feet in width, that extend the entire length 
of the building on one side only. The main walls are of adobe, 
plasterd, and are buttressed with solid and well-built masonry; 
the pillars are square with chamfered comers, and were evi- 
dently built of the material that happened to be readiest at 
hand at the moment, for some are of stone, others of burnt 
brick, and still others of adobe. The Mission stands not far from 
the river, with an attractive outlook over the valley to the 
ocean and "the fathers must have had a feeling of touch with 
the great outside when the glint of sunshine upon the waters 
greeted their watching eyes" 

The first missionaries were Father Vicente Fuster who 
was transferred from San Juan Capistrano, and Father Jose* 
Arroita, a new-comer. They found the Indians to be both in- 
dustrious and intelligent, and rapid progress was made. In a 
few months over seventy-five neophytes were enrolled and in 
the first ten years over a thousand baptisms were recorded. 
Large crops of wheat and grain were raised and live stock of 
all kinds flourished. Soon after the turn of the century Father 
Payeras came to Purisima and did much to extend its influ- 
ence. Under his direction a catechism and manual of confession 
was arranged in the Indian language and proved to be of great 
help in making converts. Within twenty years all the natives 
for many miles around had been baptized and brought within 
the fold. The death of Father Payeras in 1823, was a severe 
loss to the Mission. 

The following year, in 1824, occurred the Indian uprising 
that spread from Santa Inez where the natives were of a rather 
turbulent disposition and resented the severe treatment they 
received from the soldiers. But neither there nor at the other 
Missions affected did they show any grievance against the 
Fathers. The insurrection was aimless and without direction. 
After overcoming the guard, the rebellious neophytes permitted 
the soldiers and their families to leave (Father Rodriguez 
choosing to remain) and then occupied themselves in prepar- 
ing defenses from the attack they knew would follow, cutting 
loopholes in the walls of the Mission and mounting one or two 

48 






The pageant vanishes; and in its place 
A band of friars, in procession, climb 
The consecrated hill with solemn face, 
And plant the emblem of their faith sublime. 
Where now they kneel upon the roofless sod 
Anon in minster walls they worship God. 
Adown the summer silence I can hear 
The silver chime of bells ring sweet and clear; 
I see the vaulted nave, the surpliced priest, 
The wine, the wafer, and the solemn feast, 
The altar and the silvern candlesticks, 
The carven Christ, the gilded crucifix, 
The cups of beaten gold for sacred rites, 
The smoking censer and the waxen lights, 
The sculptured saints, the dusky neophytes. 

* * * * 

And while, methinks, I hear their sweet refrains 
On every ripple of the ambient air, 
The grass is growing in their fallen fanes, 
Their silver chimes no longer call to prayer. 

From A Reverie, in 

" The Wooing of the Rose," by 

Lucius Harwood Foots 



MISION LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION 
cannons. When after several weeks had elapsed a force was 
assembled from Monterey and the attack delivered, they re- 
sponded quite courageously, but with their lack of skill in the 
use of the weapons, they were ineffective and soon overcome. 
The ring-leaders were rigorously punished, seven being shot 
within the month, four sentenced to ten years of labor at the 
Presidio, followed by perpetual exile, and others were con- 
demned to eight years' labor at the Presidio. As several Span- 
iards lost their lives both in the first outbreak and during the 
final conflict, doubtless this severity was justified; but the judges 
found they had failed to satisfy any of the interested parties, as 
the Fathers objected, claiming that a general pardon had been 
promised before the Indians finally surrendered, and the Gov- 
ernor objected, feeling that his officers had been too lenient. 

"La Purisima was in style, dimensions and decoration the 
most modest of the Mission chapels in California," writes Jesse 
S. Hildrup. "It prospered in amassing wealth and in making 
converts, and its location made it indispensable to the line of 
Missions, as they were projected and afterward established. 
Doubtless, its misfortunes from natural causes had much to do 
in subordinating its fortunes to those of other Missions, while 
in time it became, like the others, a victim of the act of confis- 
cation. In 1844, Governor Pio Pico was ordered by the home 
government to restore the lands to the Indians, whose number 
was at that time reduced to about one hundred. But without 
faith or hope in the future, the Indians declined the benefit of 
this belated act of conscience, and the lands were sold and 
rented. The United States Commissioners, in 1856, restored the 
Mission buildings to the Church." 



49 



MISION SANTA CRUZ ■ THE MISSION OF 
THE HOLY CROSS ■ VILLA BRANCIFORTE 
AND BOUCHARD THE PIRATE 



MISION 

SANTA CRUZ. 

FROM AN 

OLD 

PAINTING. 

Courtesy of 

Harold A. 

Parker 




I 



FOUND in the site the most excellent fitness which had 

been reported to me. I found, beside, a stream of water very 
near, copious and important. On August 28, the day of Saint 
Augustine, I said Mass, and raised a cross on the spot where 
the establishment is to be. Many gentiles came, old and young 
of both sexes, and showed that they would gladly enlist under 
the Sacred Standard. Thanks be to God!" This is the cheer- 
ing report written by Father Lasuen of the consecration of 
Mision Santa Cruz, which occurred in the year of 1791. 

Two years previously the government in Mexico had 
changed and the new viceroy, Revilla Gigedo, from the begin- 
ning evinced a generous and Christian interest in the Indian 
Missions. Within two weeks of his accession of power he 
authorized the establishment of the two Missions of Santa Cruz 
and Soledad, provided the necessary funds and instructed that 
"suitable localities between San Diego and San Juan Capistra- 
no, San Gabriel and San Buenaventura be discovered, in order 
to fill up those gaps with other intermediate Missions, and that 
you will communicate whatever else is useful and feasible." 

In due time the missionaries arrived. The necessary imple- 
ments came along but the church goods were missing, and in 
order not to postpone the founding of the Missions the other 
Missions were invited to contribute chalices, vestments and 
other altar utensils wherever they could be spared. A ready 
response was made from San Diego, San Gabriel and others, 

50 



MISION SANTA CRUZ 
and accordingly the Mission was founded and Fathers Isidro 
Salazar and Baldomero Lopez were placed in charge. 

The missionary efforts met a ready response from the 
Indians as was forecast by Father Lasuen's report, but the 
zenith of the Mission's influence was reached within a few 
years, all of the Indian population being by then within the 
fold and there remaining no further gentiles to convert. From 
then on the work showed a decline; the number of the neo- 
phytes being reduced by death, and many of those that re- 
mained being sadly influenced by the nearby town of Branci- 
forte, that had been established with certain settlers recruited 
in Guadalajara, who proved "a scandal to the country by their 
immorality, detesting their exile and rendering no service." 

The disputes between the Mission and Branciforte were 
most violent, the missionaries protesting against the settlement 
being on the Mission pasture grounds, and because of the dis- 
turbing nature of such near and ungodly neighbors. Matters 
reached a climax when in 1818, anticipating a descent upon 
the Mission by Bouchard the pirate, the rascals from Branci- 
forte sacked the Mission on their own account and stole near- 
ly every article that was portable, expecting to be able to place 
the responsibility upon Bouchard. Much to their chagrin, how- 
ever, the winds prevented his landing at all, and they were left 
to face the full evidence of their villainy. The Mission was 
temporarily abandoned while the outrage was investigated. 

The buildings of Santa Cruz were substantial in their con- 
struction, and little could the builders have anticipated, in their 
enthusiasm, that they should so utterly disappear from the face 
of the earth in a few short years. The foundation of the 
church was of stone up to a height of three feet; the front walls 
were of solid masonry and the balance were of adobe, the 
church being of the goodly size of one hundred and twenty by 
thirty feet, roofed with tiles. But in January, 1840, came the 
test. An earthquake taxed the strength of the work and the 
tower collapsed. Later in the fifties the walls fell, and gradu- 
ally the treasure seekers demolished all that remained. 

In 1835 the property was appraised at fifty thousand dol- 
lars, ten thousand of which were distributed among the Indians. 
To-day nothing but a tile covered shed and a few relics remain, 
and the Mission of the Holy Cross is but a memory. 

51 






N ( 



A BIT OF 

THE ADOBE 
RUINS OF LA 

SOLEDAD 
— H.C.TibbitU 



n 





MISION NUESTRA SENORA DOLOROSISIMA 
DE LA SOLEDAD • THE FAITHFUL SERVICE 
UNTO DEATH OF FATHER SARRIA 

O such cheerful report as 
was suggested by the con- 
ditions at Santa Cruz could have 
been expected concerning the 
founding of Soledad, for though 
Father Lasuen had abundant 
confidence in the possibilities of 
the region when the advantages 
of a proper system of irrigation 
should have been added, still the 
faith of that little band as- 
sembled for the ceremonies must 
jhave been great in the face of 
(jthe thousands of acres, bare and 
jbrown, that stretched away on 
every side in undisturbed silence. 
Soledad was the second Mis- 
sion the founding of which was authorized and urged by the 
new viceroy. Its location was selected as being midway be- 
tween San Antonio de Padua and Santa Clara, and it was 
placed under the jurisdiction of Monterey as Santa Cruz was 
under that of San Francisco. The Indian name for the place 
was Chuttusgelis. The Spanish name, suggestive of the dreary 
and desolate expanse of country surrounding it, was given by 
Father Crespi years previous. 

No time was lost after the founding of Santa Cruz in push- 
ing forward to Soledad and, within a few weeks, on October 
9, 1791, Father Lasuen dedicated the spot to the service of 
God by raising and blessing the cross and celebrating Holy 
Mass. Fathers Diego Garcia and Mariano Rubi were the first 
missionaries and courageously set to work to create a center 
of usefulness about which to gather the wretched and impov- 
erished gentiles. 

The progress was slow. In two years less than two hun- 
dred baptisms had been recorded and at the end of 1796 the 
neophytes numbered only two hundred and eighty-nine, little 
more than half the number then at Santa Cruz. But still the 



52 






The Mission bells betimes invite 

To prayer and praise and prompt confession; 

With awe the humble neophyte, 

On bended knees, each morn and night 

Tells o'er his beads in deep contrition. 

No Cortez with his lances keen, 
On conquest bent has hither drifted; 
Only a sandaled monk is seen, 
With patient grace and prudent mien 
And sacred symbol high uplifted. 
* * * * 

The years, with their remorseless hands, 
Have ground to dust the white-walled Missions; 
And, in the place of fruitful lands, 
Have left us but the drifting sands, 
The broken shrines, the old traditions. 

From Padre Kino, in 

" The Wooing of the Rose," by 

Lucius Harwood Foote 



MISION DE LA SOLEDAD 
progress was continuous and, in 1811, Soledad was the more 
populous with six hundred neophytes entered. 

The Mission was situated on the west side of the Salinas 
River, near the head of the great level valley, known as the 
Salinas Plains, and about thirty miles in a direct line southeast 
of Monterey. An adobe building was erected and finished in 
1797, but a new church was begun in 1808. "It is claimed by 
the Soberanes family in Soledad that the present ruins of the 
church are of the building erected about 1850 by their grand- 
father,"says James. "He was baptized, confirmed and married in 
the old church, and when, after secularization, the Mission 
property was offered for sale, he purchased it. As the church — 
in the years of pitiful struggle for possession of its temporal- 
ities — had been allowed to go to ruin, this true son of the 
church erected the building, the ruins of which now bring sad- 
ness to the hearts of all who care." 

The Fathers found the soil of Soledad none of the best, and 
the pasturage only fairly good, although well-nigh limitless in 
extent, but with faithful, persistent work they gradually in- 
creased their material possessions and they, with their con- 
verts, lived a quiet, peaceful life for about forty years, with an 
abundance of food and comfortable shelter. In 1814, Governor 
Arrillaga was taken ill and went to Soledad to be with his old 
friend, Father Ibanez, and died there and was buried under the 
center of the church. The church also was the place of refuge 
from the Missions on the Coast during the alarm caused by 
the appearance of Bouchard in 1818. 

But the condition was sadly changed after the decree of 
secularization, and the Mission fell into the most abject pov- 
erty. Father Sarna refused to desert the few remaining In- 
dians who still clung to their old Mission for support, and con- 
tinued to minister to the fast-thinning flock. Enfeebled by age 
and destitute of means, the faithful pastor, one Sunday morn- 
ing, while saying Mass in the little church, fell before the altar 
and expired. By many it was believed that this worthy mis- 
sionary was exhausted from lack of proper food, and in reality 
died of starvation. 



53 



LA MISION DEL GLORIOSISIMO PATRI- 
ARCA SENOR SAN JOSE DE GUADALUPE 
FOUNDED IN A BOWER OF BLOSSOMS 






MONASTERY 
CORRIDOR, 
SAN JOSE DE 
GUADALUPE 
— S. L. Willard 




THE consecration of San Jose* was celebrated in a booth 
profusely adorned with the many beautiful wild flowers 
that at that season of the year bloom in the favored valley of 
Santa Clara. It occurred on Sunday, June 11, 1797, the Feast 
of the Holy Trinity. In the presence of a number of Indians, 
who had been attracted by the event, Father Lasuen, who had 
come for the purpose from Santa Clara, raised and blessed the 
cross and celebrated Holy Mass, and thus dedicated the Mission 
in honor of the foster-father of Jesus, San Jose. Fathers Isi- 
dore Barcenilla and Augustin Merino were placed in charge. 

Father Lasuen pronounced its location excellent for a Mis- 
sion. Placed on slightly elevated ground, with the steep moun- 
tains but a few miles to the East, it has an inspiriting outlook 
over a great stretch of fertile and well-watered lands, north- 
westward down the broad sweep of San Francisco bay, with 
the redwood covered heights of San Mateo on the left and the 
Contra Costa hills on the right. 

The first building was of wood with a thatched roof of 
grass. In 1809, the new church was completed, and on April 
23, Presidente Tapis consecrated it, and the following day 
preached a sermon before a large congregation gathered from 
Santa Clara and the pueblo of San Josi. Two years before, 
Langsdorff visited the Mission and reported that "although it 
is only eight years since the Mission buildings were begun, they 
are already of very considerable extent; the quantity of corn 
in the granaries far exceeding my expectations. The kitchen 
garden is well laid out, and kept in very good order; the soil is 

54 



MISION SAN JOSE 
everywhere rich and fertile, and yields ample returns. The fruit 
trees are still very young, but their produce is as good as could 
be expected. A small rivulet runs through the gardens, which 
preserves a constant moisture. Some vineyards have been 
planted and yield excellent wine, sweet and resembling Mala- 
ga." Such was the material setting. 

The missionaries were successful in making converts. Thir- 
ty-three were enrolled before the end of the year, and two hun- 
dred and eighty-six by eighteen hundred. Father Duran served 
the Mission for the long period of twenty-seven years, and dur- 
ing his administration, in 1824, the neophytes numbered nearly 
two thousand. 

The location of the Mission, being nearest to the valley of 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin, occasioned not a few exci- 
ting events for the Fathers. From the first the Indians in the 
nearby mountains opposed the establishment and, finally, in 
January, 1805, a party consisting of Father Cueva and an es- 
cort including a few neophytes were ambushed, and several of 
them slain. A punitive expedition was sent from San Fran- 
cisco and succeeded in bringing the hostile gentiles to a state 
of penitence and submission. 

On several occasions there were other expeditions against 
hostile natives, but the most serious was directed against the 
renegade neophyte, Estanislas, who had run away from San 
Jose, and with a large following raided the neighboring ranch- 
erias. He successfully resisted the first expedition and it re- 
quired a determined campaign by Vallejo, now commander-in- 
chief, to succeed in overcoming him. The outlaw Indians 
made a brave fight, and so persistent were they that most of 
them were slain during the hostilities. 

Nothing now remains of the original Mission except a por- 
tion of the monastery. The corridor is without arches and is 
plain and unpretentious. Two of the old bells are hung in the 
new parish church that is built on the site; the old baptismal 
font is still in use, and the old olive trees each year bear an 
abundant harvest. These trees, planted by the missionaries, 
form a beautiful avenue at the upper end of which the Domini- 
can sisters conduct a worthy orphanage. 



55 






MISION SAN JUAN, BAUTISTA ■ THE MUSIC 
OF THE MISSION BELLS * THE WARLIKE 
DAYS OF REVOLT AND CONQUEST 



THE ARCHES 

OP SAN 

JUAN, 

BAUTISTA 

-B L.WIllard 







THE Mission bells of San Juan, Bautista and their sweet 
toned chimes are a pleasant memory in a rather .warlike 
history. They were nine in number, cast in Peru by some old 
master who succeeded in contriving a chime of delightful har- 
mony. Their gentle music must have been a great comfort 
and have afforded much pleasure to the lonely Fathers. "They 
once rang in the offices of the church, they ordered the duties 
of the day, they called to Matins and Vespers, they ushered in 
each hour of praise and prayer, and governed the whole reli- 
gious colony that gathered about the ancient Missions," writes 
Charles Howard Shinn, in "Mission Bells." "They were, in 
fact, the embodied voices of Holy Mother Church, speaking 
to her pious children. The laborer in the fields, the herdsman 
in the mountains knew the sweet sound of the bells as they 
rang together on the day of the Mission's patron Saint, or at 
Easter, or Christmas." The bells have been scattered, some to 
other Missions, and several have been recast — but the secret 
of their music lost — and only the fame of their silver tones 
now lingers about the ruins. 

The Indians of Bautista were, in truth, from the first won 
over to the church by the strains of music, for it is said that 
the good missionary Father came provided with a little hand 
organ loaded on the back of a mule, and when he arrived at 
the selected site he placed it on a prominence overlooking the 
valley and at once proceeded to turn the crank. The Indians 
were at first overcome with fear when they heard the sounds 

56 



■HP^nBHnHHHHI 




The wall of the Mission church, with its 
buttresses, is a vision of beauty, for it is 
cushioned with moss that is like velvet to 
the eye and satin to the touch. There ferns 
of infinite variety climb to the weather- 
stained tiling of the eaves and tremble 
with delight for love of the rain and the 
sunshine and the winds on which they 
feed This is the haunt of revery, and 
divinest melancholy's Elysian field. Here 
the dead past arises from the dead and 
lives again in dreams. 

From "Old Mission Idylls" by 
Charles Warren Stoddard 



MISION SAN JUAN, BAUTISTA 
coming from the strange instrument and fell on their faces 
upon the ground. Gradually as the music continued their 
doubts were dispelled and they gathered around the Father 
and listened with much delight. Thereupon, he spoke to them 
in their native language and gave them sweets, saying that he 
had come to live among them and thus secured a most cor- 
dial welcome. 

The organ continued in service for many years and its four 
tunes were often heard. One in particular, the name of which 
was not known, was much enjoyed by the neophytes and was 
most frequently called for. Recently, labeled on the back of a 
hidden door, it was found to be " The Siren's Waltz." The in- 
strument was made by Benjamin Dobson in London in 1735, 
and is now one of the most interesting of the relics in the col- 
lection at the Mission. 

Another musical object is an old wooden wheel with four 
hollow spokes, between each two of which is a wooden clapper 
that raps upon them as the wheel rotates. Upon such days as 
the bells were not rung, this wheel was used to call the people 
to worship, and as it could be heard for a great distance, it was 
as effective although doubtless not as agreeable as the chimes. 

Father Tapis, who afterwards became Presidente, offici- 
ated at San Juan, Bautista in 1815. He composed a great deal 
of music for the Missions and in the collection at Bautista are 
three large volumes of his work, done on parchment, in large 
clear characters, and the notes for the different voices done in 
different colors so that the part could more readily be follow- 
ed. For instance, the top note was yellow, the one beneath 
was red, the next was white and the fourth was black. 

The founding of San Juan, Bautista occurred within a few 
weeks after that of San Jose and was quickly followed by the 
establishment of San Miguel and San Fernando, and a few 
months later by that of San Luis Rey. This great activity in 
the extension of the Mission chain was in response to the de- 
sire expressed by the Viceroy, that the gaps should be filled in 
as rapidly as the means and missionaries could be provided 
and was further facilitated by the cordial relation that existed 
between the Fathers and Governor Borica, who, unlike his 
predecessors, did everything possible to advance the interests 
of the Missions and encourage the Fathers in their work. The 

57 



MISION SAN JUAN, BAUTISTA 
several sites were selected only after very careful explorations 
had been made, and the reports of the four expeditions that 
had been sent out for the purpose, had been carefully consider- 
ed. All details having been approved by the Viceroy and, 
word having been received that ten friars had volunteered, 
the Governor gave the final instructions and Father-Presidente 
Lasuen, then seventy years of age, eagerly started upon the 
undertaking that resulted in the remarkable accomplishment 
of the founding of five Missions within one year, in a territory 
extending almost six hundred miles and traversed only by the 
most rugged trails. 

After the founding of San Jose, as has been previously re- 
lated, Father Lasuen immediately proceeded to San Juan, Bau- 
tista, at the place called by the Indians, Popeloutechom, and 
consecrated the Mission June 24, 1787, leaving Father Jose* de 
Martiarena and Father Pedro Adriano Martinez as the first 
missionaries in charge. 

The construction of the chapel and other buildings of the 
Mission was promptly started and, after fifteen years of busy 
industry, they were completed and dedicated by Father-Presi- 
dente Estevan Tapis, June 25, 1812. When completed the es- 
tablishment formed a court two hundred feet square, with 
buildings on three sides and a high wall protecting the fourth. 
The materials used were adobe and brick, and the flooring of 
the monastery was of brick tiles. The original tiles, over a 
hundred years old, as in many of the other Missions, still re- 
main, and give evidence that the Fathers and their Indian 
workmen had thoroughly mastered the craft of making burnt 
brick as well as adobe. The latter, composed of mud mixed 
with straw and moulded by hand, was dried in the sun. The 
size was usually thirty by sixteen by four inches and weighed 
fully fifty pounds. The former was made much smaller, about 
twelve by eight by two inches, and after the baking in a sub- 
terranean kiln were exceedingly hard. 

The most attractive feature remaining to-day is the old 
arched monastery corridor extending the entire side, about 
two hundred and seventy feet. The full charm of the effect, 
unfortunately, is impaired by the glimpse of the modern steeple 
that it was necessary to erect to replace the handsome origi- 
nal tower and dome after they fell. The church, which was 

58 






MISION SAN JUAN, BAUTISTA 
restored in 1884, is simple but not unattractive. The walls 
were supported by four buttresses on either side, those on the 
north still remaining. The main entrance is through a large 
central arch in the fachada, there being two smaller arches, 
one on either side. 

The interior is lighted by eight small windows, glazed with 
panes about five inches square, placed almost at the top of the 
walls above the cornice. Each of the side walls, underneath, 
are divided into seven arches, doubtless indicating that the 
builders expected to enlarge the church at a later time by con- 
structing side aisles. 

The history of Bautista is marked by numerous warlike 
episodes. At first the Gentile Indians showed considerable an- 
tagonism and there were a number of encounters between 
them and the Mission guard. Later, in 1836, the headquarters 
for the revolt headed by Castro and Alvarado against Gover- 
nor Gutierrez were there, and it became the center of the ex- 
citement that resulted in the exile of Gutierrez and the ultimate 
election of Alvarado in his place. Then in 1846, Castro organ- 
ized his forces in Bautista to repel the invasion of Fremont, 
who fortified himself on the heights of Gavilan, near by, and 
prepared to defend himself to the last. And it was Fremont 
who raised the stars and stripes over the Mission after Sloat 
made his landing at Monterey. Finally Fremont drilled his 
ten companies of volunteer troops in Bautista and started 
from there on his march to the South to suppress the revolt 
of Flores. 

When the secularization of the Mission occurred, some- 
what over eight thousand dollars were distributed among the 
Indians and it is said that there, as at San Antonio, they made 
fairly good use of their freedom. 

"Now the town is utterly deserted," writes James. "The 
railroad left San Juan on one side. Nothing to-day suggests 
the activity and excitement of the Mission and revolutionary 
days. Grass grows in the streets and sleepiness and laziness 
reign supreme." 



59 



CORRIDOR 

ARCHES, 

SAN MIGUEL, 

ARCANGEL 

—H.C.Tibbitta 




SAN MIGUEL, ARCANGEL ' ITS INTERIOR 
UNRESTORED, SHOWING THE ORIGINAL 
CONSTRUCTION AND DECORATION 

THE explorations in search 
of a desirable site for a Mis- 
sion to be between San Antonio 
and San Luis Obispo had cover- 
ed the ground thoroughly for 
three leagues on either side of 
the route as far as San Luis 
Obispo and from Rio Nacimien- 
to to the Arroya de Santa Ysabel 
up to its scource, and resulted in 
the selection of a location at Las 
Pozas, a beautiful spot .on the 
Salinas River called by the In- 
dians, Vahia, where there was 
plenty of water for irrigation. 
"To this day the Springs of 
Santa Ysabel are a joy and a delight to all who know them, 
and the remains of the old irrigating canals and dams dug and 
built by the Fathers are still to be seen." The natives were 
numerous and friendly and expressed a desire to have the 
missionaries among them. 

"Here, on July 25, 1797, with the assistance of Father Buena- 
ventura Sirjar, and of the troops destined to guard the new 
establishment, in the presence of a great multitude of Gentiles 
of both sexes and of all ages, whose pleasure and rejoicing ex- 
ceeded even our expectation, thanks be to God, I blessed the 
water and the place, and a great cross which -we venerated 
and raised. Immediately I intoned the Litany of the Saints and 
after it sang the Mass, during which I preached, and we con- 
cluded the ceremonies by solemnly singing the Te Deutn. 
May it all be for the greater honor and glory of God, our Lord. 
Amen." Thus joyfully did Father Lasuen write of the auspi- 
cious event. 

In the afternoon of that same day pagan parents presented 
fifteen children for baptism. The happy Father -Presidente 
granted their request, after he had received the assurance that 
the elders would have themselves instructed and baptized. He 

60 





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* * "I breathe the air 
Blest by Franciscan praise and prayer, 
Made holier still by silver swell 
From many a dulcet Mission bell; 
I have my northern snow-capped peaks, 
From whose grand heights fair Nature speaks 
To ocean, valley, plain,- and calls 
Afar to wondrous waterfalls; 
I have my skies of sunset gold, 
Dream-fields where poppy leaves unfold, 
And hammock-swung 'twixt pine and palm 
Life runneth as a song-set psalm; 
Time drifting goes — each year anew 
Still finds me constant, loyal, true, 
And more and more content to be 
A dreamer by the Western Sea" 

From" Beside the Western Sea" 
by Clarence Urtny 



MISION SAN MIGUEL, ARCANGEL 
then continued on his tour of establishment and left Father 
Buenaventura Sitjar and Father Antonio de la Concepcion in 
charge of the Mission. 

Temporary buildings of wood with mud roofs were soon 
erected, to be replaced in later years with those that are to be 
seen to-day. The Fathers at San Miguel had the usual ex- 
periences of the other Missions, making converts and having 
minor troubles with those who were reluctant to enter the 
fold. On one occasion Guchapa, the chief of the Cholan ratich- 
eria, repulsed their overtures saying that he was not afraid 
of their soldiers for they died as did other men, whereupon 
steps were taken to convince him of his error and he was fin- 
ally conciliated and induced to send some of his young men 
to become Christians. 

Soon after the commencement of the missionary work 
Father Concepcion developed a most unhappy disorder of the 
brain, indulging in wild freaks and frightening the natives so 
as to interfere with their conversion. It was necessary to 
return him to Mexico, from where he made accusations 
against the Fathers of cruelty and mismanagement and caused 
much trouble and an investigation by the Viceroy. In 1801, 
two of the Fathers were taken violently ill and Father Pujol 
who came from Monterey to attend them, was stricken with 
a similar affliction and failed to recover as did the first victims. 
It was feared that they had been poisoned by the Indians but 
it has never been decided if such was really the case. Again, 
in 1806, catastrophe overtook the Mission, a fire destroying all 
the tools and large quantities of supplies. In this instance the 
other Missions were able to be of assistance by generously 
sending contributions to replenish the stores. , 

The Fathers were always active in exploring for new fields 
for their missionary work and, on one occasion Father Juan 
Cabot headed an expedition from San Miguel into the valley 
of the Tulares, an unusual journey from which he returned in 
safety, reporting the great desirability of establishing a Mission 
somewhere in the region. 

The Mission prospered in every way. In 1814 there were 
over a thousand neophytes enrolled and that they were con- 
tented with their lot was shown by the fact that when they 
were consulted concerning the scheme of secularization they 

61 







MISION SAN MIGUEL, ARCANGEL 
replied that they preferred the continuance of the Mission sys- 
tem. This was not granted them however, and in 1836 the 
Mission, valued at eighty -two thousand dollars, was confis- 
cated and the property disappeared. In later years the build- 
ings were restored to the church and service is still continued. 

San Miguel to-day, is an interesting example of the origi- 
nal Mission construction and decoration. The interior remains 
unrestored, retaining its original decorations executed by the 
Indians under the instructions of the Fathers, an excellent de- 
tailed account of which may be found in the chapter on "In- 
terior Decoration" in "The Old Missions of California," by 
George Wharton James. Of these he writes that "Although 
crude and inharmonious they are exceedingly interesting, as 
they are so evidently a work of love and devotion. The desire 
to beautify the sacred house is there manifest, although the 
power adequately to accomplish the purpose was wanting. 
To the Mission Fathers the completed church was dear, beau- 
tiful and sacred, because beautified to the best of their ability, 
and raised with the ardor of their whole souls to the Glory of 
God." 

The ceiling rests on large rafters supported by corbels, both 
hewn out of solid trees brought by the Indians from the moun- 
tains forty miles away. The corbels, rafters and ceiling are 
colored, light green, pink, blue and white being used. The 
walls below are designed to represent fluted pillars, colored 
blue, and the spaces between are decorated with convention- 
alized leaves and carved designs. Above is a frieze to repre- 
sent a gallery with railings and pillars, done in red-brown. The 
reredos occupies the entire western end of the church from 
floor to ceiling. In the center is the wooden statue of San 
Miguel and above is a large all-seeing eye radiating beams of 
light The original decorated and colored pulpit is still in place, 
and also the old confessional built into the solid adobe wall. 
The floor is of burnt brick, laid in alternating rows of oblongs 
and squares. 

Extending from the side of the church is the low row of 
monastery buildings with the arched corridor, typical of so 
many of the Missions but with the peculiarity that the open- 
ings are of different sizes. The two center arches are eliptical 
and larger and are balanced with four smaller, semi-circular 

62 



*• 



MISION SAN MIGUEL, ARCANGEL 
arches and then a still smaller one on either side. The build- 
ings formed a quadrangle two hundred and thirty feet square 
and traces still remain in it of a corridor corresponding to the 
one in front. 

Both church and monastery have recently been replaster- 
ed and repaired, but are still impressive and beautiful. Both 
in the exterior and interior, San Miguel is an excellent example 
of the faithful and sincere work of the missionary builders. 
Of what they accomplished, C. A. Higgins, in "To California 
and Back," writes thus graphically: "With the difficulties to 
be overcome, it would not have been surprising had the result- 
ing structures been uncouth and clumsy in effect; but, on the 
contrary, they form to-day, ruined as they are, some of the 
most noteworthy examples of architecture in America. It is 
the spirit of absolute sincerity, of immediate contact with na- 
ture, of loving interest in the work, which characterises them. 
They are literally hewn out of the surrounding land by the 
pious zeal of their makers. There is a softness and harmony 
about the lines which shows the work of hands instead of 
machines, and the dull red tiles and soft terra-cotta and buff 
walls of stone are beautifully harmonious in colour. Even the 
white-washed walls of plaster are effective, with the long, cool 
shadows of the arches upon them, showing between the green 
of the garden or orchard. 

"The power of the Missions is gone, the people- to whom 
they ministered are largely dead and scattered, and the build- 
ings are rapidly crumbling into dust, but about them still clings 
an atmosphere of romance and poetry, a melancholy peace 
which is sad, yet beautiful and fascinating. They hold the 
poet and painter in their spell." 



63 



RUINED 

CHAPEL, 

SAN 

FERNANDO 

-H.C.Tibbitts 



u^5i I l 




SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA ■ THE 
BEAUTIFUL OLD PALMS • MISSION LIFE 
AND ROUTINE ■ ITS AIMS 

^HE old Mission palms of San 
Fernando are the most con- 
spicuous feature that greets the 
visitor to-day. Over one hundred 
years old "these superb palms, so 
long unattended, lift their tall col- 
umns to the sky as if so puny a 
thing as man or man's care were 
of no significance to them." They 
are the inspiration of the artist 
and many has been the sketch 
and photograph in which these 
two grand trees, isolated and a- 
lone in the broad level of San 
Fernando Valley, rise up in the 
foreground, the long, low line of 
the monastery corridor beyond, 
accenting their stately height, and the lovely hills rising into 
the Sierra Madre mountains in the distance, giving mass and 
background. These though, are not the only growing things 
remaining from the vanished era, for a portion of the old cac- 
tus hedge still lives to interest the visitor, and some fine old 
olive trees still flourish in the orchard and give testimony to the 
husbandry of the industrious Fathers. 

But beautiful and picturesque as is the general view, it 
still is a sad experience to ramble over what remains of the 
past magnificence for "San Fernando has become but the 
shadow of its former glory." The monastery buildings, recent- 
ly restored to an extent just sufficient to keep it from further 
collapse, and cracked and decrepit, as a tour through its dark 
and cavernous interior proves it to be, still is an evidence of 
the wonderful architecture of these missionary theologians. 
But the church is a mere mass of unadorned adobe walls, with 
roof and gaunt projecting beams in imminent danger of fresh 
catastrophe. "Of the minor buildings — the sheds and work- 
shops and quarters — one crumbling line remains; the rest 
has sunk into vague mounds of adobe." Directly in front of 

64 



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The old Missions of Southern California 
add immensely to the picturesqueness of 
the land They are often the first ruins 
that an American has ever seen. The 
adobe softens to a beautiful gray with time, 
and lichens paint its tracery over an admir- 
able background The green mold and 
rust on the bells, and the arches of the 
cloisters are all beautiful to eyes that 
have seen only the stereotyped 
architecture of our land 

Elizabeth Bacon Custer, in 
"The Land of Sunshine" 



SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA 
the monastery still plays the fine old Mission fountain and its 
substantial brick reservoir is still kept filled with clear fresh 
water. 

"The Mission of San Fernando probably never had as great 
claims to notice, on the score of beauty, as had some others 
of these interesting monuments; but the heavy low building, 
with its long line of arches, red-tiled roof and elementary cam- 
panile, is pleasing for its simplicity, and seems appropriate to 
the humility of the order of St. Francis," writes J. Smeaton 
Chase, in "California Coast Trails." "The church itself is in 
ruins, and shows plain evidence of the unhallowed industry of 
treasure-seekers with crowbars. An old Mexican now guards 
the place, unlocking for a small payment, wormy doors with 
fiddle-like keys, and leading the visitor by precarious stairways 
to mouldy lofts and cellars, peopled with shades of priests 
and neophyte, comandante and soldado de cuero." 

It stands a short distance from the little town of San Fer- 
nando, on a spot known as Reyes Rancho, and called by the 
Indians, Achois Comihavit, and within its lands was the fa- 
mous Camulos Rancho, the home of Helen Hunt Jackson's 
"Ramona." To the south, about twenty miles away through 
the Glendale Valley, lies Los Angeles, and a trolley line now 
leads direct from that city to the Mission corridor. But the 
way of the Fathers, along El Camino Real, lay to the east- 
ward through La Canada Pass to San Gabriel, and to-day, to 
beautiful Pasadena and its avenues of pepper trees. The loca- 
tion was selected from the report of one of the exploring par- 
ties before referred to, which started from San Buenaventura 
in August, 1795, and scoured the country thoroughly between 
that Mission and San Gabriel. Many pagan Indians were 
found working for white settlers, and it was feared that it 
would be difficult to win them to Christianity. 

When everything was in readiness, Father Lasuen accom- 
panied by Father Francisco Dumetz, who with Father Fran- 
cisco Javier Una was left in charge of the new Mission after 
its founding, started from Santa Barbara and held the solemn 
ceremonies of dedication on September 8, 1797. In the after- 
noon five little Indian boys and five little Indian girls were 
baptized in the same enramada in which earlier in the day had 
been celebrated the Holy Mass. This was followed in October 

65 



SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA 
by the conversion of thirteen adults, and before the end of the 
year fifty-five neophytes were enrolled. 

Within three years over three hundred contented con- 
verts were organized in the work of Mision San Fernando, 
laboring in the production of its ample crops and sharing in its 
comforts and religious life. The routine at all the Missions 
was very similar, and it may be of interest to quote here as 
illustrative of the life at San Fernando, as \*ell as that at the 
other Missions, the story related in 1876 by one of eight found- 
ling children who were brought to San Diego in 1800, as ar- 
ranged by Laure Bride Powers in her excellent sketch of the 
California Missions. "At daylight all animal life was astir. 
Everyone save the sick and infirm proceeded to Mass, after 
which breakfast was served. This consisted unvaryingly of 
atole, or ground barley. Thence all repaired at sunrise to their 
daily tasks. Between eleven and twelve the midday meal was 
partaken of, consisting of the ever-present aroie in its different 
forms, with mutton as a side relish. Occasionally the Spanish 
frijoles were observed on the table at this meal. To the sick 
or aged milk was freely given. During the heated hours of 
the summer afternoons a burro laden with baskets would 
pass around the fields regaling the toilers with draughts of 
vinegar and sweetened water. This was considered a rare 
luxury. At six o'clock the evening meal was served. Pinole, 
the favorite preparation from atole, formed the piece de re- 
sistance. To this the neophytes were at liberty to add nuts 
and wild berries, which they gathered in large quantities and 
stored away. The commissary department was conducted in 
a modified communistic style. Each morning at daybreak 
the mavera, or over-keeper of the granary, distributed to 
each individual or family sufficient food for the day. The 
unmarried males carried their share to the pozolera, where 
it was prepared and partaken of at a common table. The bene- 
dicts carried their rations to their respective rancherias where 
they shared their atole with their families. At five o'clock the 
labors of the day were ended, and man and beast plodded their 
way homeward and to rest. At sundown the "Angelus" call- 
ed the faithful to prayers, the neophytes, workmen and priests 
repaired to the chapel where the "Litany" was sung and the 
evening blessing imparted. The day was done." 

66 



SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA 
The principal occupation of the Mission Indians was agri- 
culture, and with the primitive implements that were available 
they certainly were practised in industry if not in modern effi- 
ciency. The plough, which is still used in Mexico, was com- 
posed of two pieces of timber. One of these was formed of a 
crooked branch of such shape that it constituted the sole, to 
which was fitted a sharp piece of iron, and the handle. The 
other piece was a beam of undressed timber long enough to 
reach to the yoke, which was fastened to the horns of two 
oxen by means of rawhide thongs. With such a tool the soil 
could not be turned over deep and it was necessary to cross 
and recross the fields several times. A harrow was unknown 
and where wheat or barley was sown, a bushy branch was 
used to cover the seed or a log of wood was drawn over the 
field. Corn was planted by hand in the rut made by the plow 
and the soil pushed over by means of the foot The carts 
were quite as rudely made as the plows, the frame being of a 
most clumsy construction and the wheels frequently made of 
but one block of wood and never with spokes. No particle of 
iron, not even a nail was used, the axle being of wood and 
the linch pin as well. After the harvesting, which was done 
by most laborious methods, the grain was thrashed by being 
spread on an enclosed patch of hard ground into which several 
cattle were driven and kept moving. The wheat and corn 
were ground to flour by the Indian women by crushing with 
the pestle in a mortar or basket, though later horizontal water 
wheels of most elementary construction were used. 

As the needs of the community demanded, and the ability 
of the neophytes made possible, many of them were put to 
work at various trades — making bricks, tiles and pottery, lay- 
ing brick, doing carpenter and mason work, making shoes, 
saddles, hats, clothes, candles, soap, tanning hides, combing and 
spinning wool, melting tallow, shearing sheep, blacksmithing 
and weaving cloth and blankets. The women and girls would 
spin, sew, grind corn, and attend to household duties, and even 
the children were employed to chase away birds from the 
orchards and vineyards or doing chores of which they were 
capable. 

The live stock of each Mission was an extensive part of 
the activities, and as there were large herds of cattle, sheep 

67 



SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA 
and horses, a good number of men and boys were engaged in 
their care. They soon became most efficient as horse-trainers 
and surpassed their teachers in the use of riatas which they 
braided from rawhide. They were daring riders, and fearless 
hunters, roping the mountain lion and even bringing in the 
dangerous grizzly bears for their bear and bull fights, with no 
other weapon than the riatas. As sheep and cattle herders 
they had an instinctive ability; and became skilled sheep- 
shearers, which vocation they still follow to-day, their services 
being largely sought for at good wages. The time of the 
rodeo, when the cattle were rounded up for examination and 
counting, was set apart as a period of feasting and pleasure 
and of visiting from one Mission to another. 

There were other times of relaxation. Neophytes were 
frequently granted a vacation of a fortnight, in which they 
could visit their pagan relatives in the rancherias or if they 
wished, visit any of the other Missions from San Diego to 
San Francisco, where they would be sure to be treated hos- 
pitably. This was far more than they could do before the 
missionaries came, as then they could not with safety venture 
even a short distance away from their respective rancherias. 
But, even while at their duties "their labor was light and 
they had much leisure time to waste in their beloved inaction 
or in the rude pastimes of their aboriginal state." In the ser- 
vice of the Mission they were always sure of ample and good 
food, which was a religious argument of great value to the 
missionaries, they were comfortably clothed and housed and 
led a quite contented and happy state of existence. 

Naturally they were under restraint, for by no other way 
could they be so quickly raised from their bestial state and 
made a harmonious part of a community's life. During their 
first period of instruction they were at any time at liberty to 
retire, but after accepting baptism, the obligations of which 
they understood, they were considered as enlisted and were 
compelled permanently to relinquish their previous wild and 
immoral life and remain true to the Christian consecration 
they had assumed. It is useless to debate whether or not they 
eventually would have been raised to a standard of integrity 
and personal independence of character. The Mission system 
was not permitted to live long enough to demonstrate the out- 

68 






DUST FROM EL CAMINO REAL 

"Dust to dust"— but let it be 
Something that was dear to me, 
Dust the Padres' feet have pressed 
Following their high behest, 
Where they reared the sainted shrine, 
Planted olive grove and vine; 
Dust within whose lifted cloud 
Fantasies and visions crowd— 

' Dreams Castilian, dreams of gold, 
Tales of Argonauts, untold 
Save at night by starlit breeze 
To the groves of redwood trees! 

From "Coronach" by 
Clarence Urmy 



SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA 
come. But there is no doubt but that no progress would have 
been made if the Fathers had permitted the converts to re- 
main in their old haunts and continue to live in the degraded 
state in which they were found. 

After being baptized, therefore, the Indians took up their 
abode with the Fathers and became a part of the Mission 
life as has been briefly sketched. At first they were permitted 
to raise their own cabins, usually consisting merely of poles 
covered with grass or tules, which they would bum up and 
replace whenever they became decayed or too uncomfortable 
with fleas. Later the Fathers won them over to better things 
and each family dwelt in a small adobe building, the walls of 
which were whitewashed and cleanly. 

Owing to the very immoral state of the Indians, the girls 
and unmarried women were housed in a separate building at 
night, the doors being locked and the key given to the mis- 
sionaries, and they were thus protected from license until they 
were married, which was very simply arranged. The young 
man would inform the Father of his desire and selection and 
he would then be introduced to the girl, who was free to 
accept or reject him. If she was willing, the espousal took 
place in regular form, was recorded before witnesses, and the 
marriage was invariably blessed by the church. After the 
ceremony the couple would occupy one of the adobe dwel- 
lings that was assigned to them by the Fathers. This was a 
most desirable and striking contrast to the very loose mar- 
riage customs of the pagans, which observed no more cere- 
mony than mere convenience and agreement between two 
persons, and which lasted only as long as they choose to live 
together. 

The Mission system can be better understood when it is 
clearly recognized that the aim of the Fathers was not mater- 
ial advancement, either for themselves or their charges, but 
the spiritual welfare and conversion of the heathen, to whom 
they carried the message of the Church. 

This brief outline of the Mission life and purpose has been 
compiled from the chapters on the Mission system in Father 
Engelhardt's able work on the Missions of California. 



69 



IN THE 




CEMETERY 




OF SAN 




LUIS REY 




— Hermann 




O. Albrecht 












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MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA • THE 
PASSING OF FATHER LASUEN ■ ASISTENCI A 
DE SAN ANTONIO DE PALA 

k T last we turned inland, and 
after a jaunt of an hour 
a half we found before us, 
on a piece of rising ground, the 
superb buildings of Mission San 
Luis Rey, whose glittering white- 
ness was flashed back to us by 
the first rays of the day. At 
that distance, and in the still un- 
certain light of dawn, this edi- 
fice, of a very beautiful model, 
supported upon its numerous pil- 
; lars, had the aspect of a palace. 
I The architectural faults cannot 
1 be grasped at this distance, and 
the eye is attracted only to the 
V elegant mass of this beautiful 
structure. * * Instinctively I stop- 
ped my horse to gaze alone, for a few minutes, on the beauty 
of this sight." 

The stately magnificence of San Luis Rey, more typically 
Moorish than any other Mission, is impressive to-day even in 
its ruins, and in the time of its greatest wealth and power it 
might easily startle and arrest the attention of the traveler. 
Duhaut-Cilly, whose description of his first surprised view has 
just been quoted, visited the Mission in 1827, and left the fol- 
lowing excellent description of the establishment: "The build- 
ings were drawn on a large and ample plan, wholly the idea 
of Father Peyri; he directed the execution of it, in which he 
was assisted by a very skillful man, who had contributed also 
to the building of those at Santa Barbara; so although these 
are much more sumptuous, at that place may be recognized 
the same hand. They form a large square of five hundred 
feet on each side. The main fachada is a long peristyle borne 
on thirty-two square pillars supporting round arches. The 
edifice is composed, indeed, of only a ground floor, but its 
elevation, of fine proportions gives it as much grace as noble- 



70 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
ness. It is covered with a tiled roof, flattened, around which 
reaches, as much without as within the square, a terrace with 
an elegant balustrade, which stimulates still more the height. 
Within is seen a large court, neat and leveled, around which 
pillars and arches similar to those of the peristyle support a 
long cloister, by which one communicates with all the depend- 
encies of the Mission. Two immense gardens, well planted, 
provide abundant stores of vegetables and fruits of all kinds. 
The large and easy flight of steps, by means of which one 
descends into that one to the southeast, recalled to my mind 
those of the orange gardens of Versailles, not because the 
material was as valuable and the architecture as fine, but 
because there was a certain resemblance in the arrangement, 
number and dimensions of the steps." 

The location is in a beautiful little valley about four miles 
inland, surrounded by hills but upon a slight eminence, where- 
by it commands a view of the surrounding country, and at the 
same time, lends a charm to the scenery by its own grandeur. 
But isolated as it is, the beauties of probably the most ela- 
borate adobe structure ever erected are seen but by few. John 
T. Doyle visited it at a late period and writes concerning it: 
"In the middle of the valley, on a slight elevation, rose the 
towers of the old church, the red-tiled roof of which, and of 
the adjoining buildings of the ancient Mission, shone bright 
and ru^ddy in the glare of an almost tropical sun. * * It stands 
there to-day, magnificent even in its ruins, a monument to the 
piety, devotion, industry and disinterestness of the venerable 
monks who wear the habit and cord of St. Francis, and who 
were the first colonists of Alta California." Mr. Doyle is 
authority for the statement that it was estimated by the 
United States Government that two million dollars would be 
required to repair and restore the Mission to its former con- 
dition, the inquiry being made after our troops ceased to use 
it as a military post, as was done during the Mexican war and 
for some time after its close. 

San Luis Rey was constructed of adobe, faced with burnt 
brick. The fachada is beautifully proportioned, graced with 
a handsome doorway arid relieved by three niches for statues. 
It has other typical Mission features, such as a curved and 
stepped pediment and a massive but graceful bell tower of 

71 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
two stories, with chamfered corners and lantern crown. The 
Mortuary Chapel is said by James to be possibly one of the 
finest features in all the Mission chain, "beautiful even now in 
its sad desolation." Octagonal in form, it was crowned with 
a domed roof of heavy cement. At each point of the octagon 
is an engaged column, above which is a three-membered cor- 
nice supporting arches that reach from one column to another. 
The altar is in a recess, with domed ceiling of brick and a 
small lantern, and with interesting decorations in classic design 
on the rear wall. 

The quadrangle, "once a garden bright with flowers and 
the lustrous leaves of the orange and lemon tree," has gone to 
waste, but there still flourishes a mighty pepper tree, said to 
be the parent of all that grow in California, brought from 
South America by a sea-captain for the Fathers benefit. It is 
said that in this plaza, after the secularization of the Mission, 
there were numerous bull fights, the crowds of spectators 
gathering on the roofs of the corridors, from where they had 
an excellent view and could enjoy the excitement in perfect 
safety. , 

The location of San Luis Rey was selected by Father 
Lasuen himself, as he failed to approve of the site suggested 
by the exploring party that had been sent out for the purpose 
of placing a Mission at a desirable point between San Diego 
and San Juan Capistrano and, doubtless unwisely, had decided 
upon a spot ten leagues away from El Camino Real. That 
finally approved by Father Lasuen, after the venerable enthus- 
iast had personally headed a second exploring party, was in 
the locality which the first discoverers, in 1769, had called 
Canada de San Juan Capistrano, and to distinguish it from the 
Mission of that name, it was now designated San Juan Capis- 
trano el Viejo, or Old Capistrano. 

Here on June 13, 1798, the party assembled for the solemn 
ceremonies of establishing the new Mission. Father Lasuen, 
who was now to lead for the last time on such an occasion, 
officiated. Father Antonio Peyri, who there began a memor- 
able service in the conduct of the Mission, that was to extend 
over a period of thirty years, until tn% order of secularization 
should end his usefulness, assisted, as also did Father Juan 
Norberto de Santiago. There were guards from San Diego, 

72 




The Mission is no more; upon its walls 
The golden lizards slip, or breathless pause, 
Still as the sunshine brokenly that falls 
Through crannied roof and spider-webs of gauze; 
No more the bell its solemn warning calls, 
A holier silence thrills and overawes; 
And the sharp lights and shadows of to-day 
Outline the Mission of San Luis Rey. 

From "Friar Pedro's Ride," 
by Bret Hartn 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
many neophytes from both San Diego and San Juan Capis- 
trano, and a great multitude of gentile Indians. After the cere- 
monies usual on these occasions, and during the same day, 
Father Lasuen had the great satisfaction of baptizing twenty- 
nine Indian girls and twenty-five Indian boys, whose parents 
had voluntarily requested the service; and nineteen adult In- 
dians, who likewise asked to be baptized, were told to wait 
until they had received the necessary instruction in the Chris- 
tian doctrine. This eagerness on the part of the natives to 
participate in the Mission life, was an early forecast of its great 
growth in the future; at one time, in the year 1826, there being 
nearly three thousand neophytes enrolled. 

Of these first hours of San Luis Rey, Father Peyri spoke 
to the traveler Duhaut-Cilly, as he writes: "He related to me 
that he arrived at four o'clock in the afternoon of the thir- 
teenth of June, 1798, at this valley, at that time deserted, with 
the commandant of San Diego, a detachment of soldiers and 
a few laborers. 'Our first care,' said he, 'was to put up some 
huts, like those of the savages of this country, to give us shel- 
ter, while the Mission should be building; but, the next morn- 
ing, before laying out the foundations, a grassy altar was ex- 
temporized on the greensward, and under the dome of Heaven 
I celebrated the first sacrifice which had ever been offered to 
the Eternal in this valley, upon which, since then, he has 
showered so many blessings.' " 

The new church was completed in 1802, and other build- 
ings were rapidly erected to meet the requirements of the fast 
growing community. By the end of 1801 there were over 
three hundred neophytes engaged in the activities, and already 
the herds of cattle, horses and sheep were numerous. Under 
the able direction of Father Peyri, the Mission became a 
model of energetic, well directed endeavor and growth. 

An interesting picture of the establishment, which is typical 
of all the Missions, has been left us by De Mofras, as follows: 
"The edifice is quadrilateral, and about one hundred and fifty 
meters long in front. The church occupies one of the wings. 
The fachada is ornamented with a gallery (or arcade). The 
building, a single story in height, is generally raised some feet 
above the ground. The interior forms a court, adorned with 
flowers and planted with trees. Opening on the gallery which 

73 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
runs round it, are the rooms of the monks, major-domos, and 
travellers, as well as the workshops, schoolrooms, and store- 
houses. Hospitals for men and women are situated in the 
quietest parts of the Mission, where also are placed the school- 
rooms. The young Indian girls occupy apartments called the 
monastery (el moujerio) and they themselves are styled nuns 
(las moujas). 

"Placed under the care of trustworthy Indian women, they 
are there taught to spin wool, flax, and cotton, and do not 
leave their secludios until they are old enough to be married. 
The Indian children attend the same school as the children of 
the white colonists. A certain number of them, chosen from 
those who exhibit most intelligence, are taught music — plain- 
chant, violin, flute, horn, violoncello, and other instruments. 
Those who distinguish themselves in the carpenter's shop, at 
the forge, or in the field, are termed alcaldes, or chiefs, and 
given charge of a band of workmen. The management of 
each Mission is composed of two monks; the elder looks after 
internal administration and religious instruction; the younger 
has direction of agricultural work. For the sake of order and 
morals, whites are employed only where strictly necessary, 
for the Fathers know their influence to be altogether harmful, 
and that they lead the Indians to gambling and drunkenness, 
to which vices they are already too prone. To encourage the 
natives in their tasks, the Fathers themselves often lend a 
hand, and everywhere furnish an example of industry. Neces- 
sity has made them industrious. One is struck with astonish- 
ment on observing that, with such meager resources, often 
without European workmen or any skilled help, but with the 
assistance only of savages, always unintelligent and often hos- 
tile, they have yet succeeded in executing such works of archi- 
tecture and engineering as mills, machinery, bridges, roads, 
and canals for irrigation. For the erection of nearly all the 
Mission buildings it was necessary to bring to the sites chosen, 
beams cut on mountains eight or ten leagues away, and to 
teach the Indians to burn lime, cut stone, and make bricks. 

"Around the Mission, are the huts of the neophytes, and 
the dwellings of some white colonists. Besides the central es- 
tablishment, there exists, for a space of thirty or forty leagues, 
accessory farms to the number of fifteen or twenty, and branch 

74 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
chapels (chapelles succursales). Opposite the Mission is a 
guard-house for an escort, composed of four cavalry soldiers 
and a sergeant These act as messengers, carrying orders 
from one Mission to another, and in the earlier days of con- 
quest repelled the savages who would sometimes attack the 
settlement." 

Father Peyri excelled all the other missionaries in his re- 
cord of achievement. " He was zealous, sensible, and energetic. 
He knew what he wanted and how to secure it and the Indians 
worked for him willingly. * * When he saw that the re- 
public was inevitable he became its enthusiastic friend and 
swore allegiance; but as the plans of the spoliators became 
, more open, and the law of expulsion of all Spaniards was 
passed in 1829, he endeavored to obtain his passports, though 
unsuccessfully," writes James. "When Governor Victoria was 
exiled he went from San Gabriel to rest and recruit awhile at 
San Luis Rey; and then the venerable Father decided that 
the time had come for him to leave the scene of over thirty 
years of arduous though congenial toil. Accordingly he went 
with Victoria to San Diego, where a vessel had been chart- 
ered. The story is told and I do not question its' material 
truth, that, knowing he could not comfortably take leave of 
his Indians, he fled in the night-time, hoping to escape with- 
out their knowledge. Missing him, however, in the morning, 
they learned somehow that he had gone, so, mounting their 
ponies, a large number of them rode to San Diego, hoping to 
be able to bring him back. They arrived just as the ship was 
weighing anchor. Standing on the deck, with outstretched 
arms he blessed them amid their tears. He had with him four 
neophyte boys, whom he took to Europe. For many years the 
Indians left behind at San Luis Rey were in the habit of plac- 
ing candles and flowers before the picture of Father Peyri and 
offering prayers to him, pleading with him to return. Even 
after his death this was kept up, the simple-hearted Indians 
preferring to pray to a Saint, whose goodness they had known 
and felt, rather than to those of whom they knew nothing but 
what they were told." 

After the order of secularization the Mission had the same 
deplorable experience as the others. The Indians were scat- 
tered and the property lost, and what was left was finally sold 

75 






MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
for the small sum of less than twenty-five hundred dollars. 
Later the sale was not approved by the United States author- 
ities and the Mission was restored to the care of the church. 
It is now used as a Franciscan college and many of the build- 
ings are being restored and adapted to the present day needs, 
though kept in harmony with the traditions of the past. The 
rededication occurred May 12, 1893, when there were present 
three old Indian women who had similarly been present at 
the first dedication of the church in 1802. 

As has been previously stated, San Luis Rey, the last of 
the Missions to be founded before the close of the century, 
was also the last one established during the life-time of Father- 
Presidente Lasuen. It was the fifth one established by him 
within the period of one year. "He had displayed such aston- 
ishing activity and endurance for a man of seventy years that 
Governor Borica felt constrained to compliment him. The 
Father-Presidente, he observed, seemed to have recovered his 
youthful vigor by bathing in the waters of another Jordan." 

After the death of Father-Presidente Serra in 1784, Father 
Palou held the office of Presidente for a brief term, but doubt- 
less in pursuance of the plan arranged with Father Serra, he 
soon returned to Mexico, where, by his familiarity with the 
affairs of the California Missions and his interest in their wel- 
fare, he could be of very valuable service in exposing the 
machinations of the military officials against the missionaries 
and in maintaining the interests of the latter. Moreover, it was 
most desirable that he should be afforded the opportunity of 
completing his historical works of the missionary activities in 
California, for which he had utilized his spare time in compiling 
a narrative of all that had transpired since the arrival of the 
Franciscans at Loreto early in 1768, up to that time. One of 
these, entitled "Noticias de la California," was prepared in 
manuscript and a copy sent to Madrid, but it was not printed 
until 1857, when it was incorporated in the "Documentos para 
la Historia de Mexico." In 1874, the work was republished at 
San Francisco, in four volumes, by Mr. John T. Doyle. The 
other work was entitled "Relation Historica de la Vida y 
Apostolicas Tareas del Venerable Padre Fray Junipero Serra," 
and was published at the expense of private individuals in 
Mexico in 1787. 

76 




Harold A. Parker 






Where once the Padres walked in days gone by, 

At peace, within this quiet, cool retreat, 

The great white sea-gulls circling far, and high, 

The ocean coming, going at their feet, 

Is silence now. The roses bloom and die 

With but the soft, salt breeze to breathe their sweet 

On crumbled wall the lizard basks in heat, 

And far away, and clear, the curlews cry. 

Enter. The spell of time is over all. 

What wonder if beneath the palm trees tall 

A shadowy from is seen, a footfall heard, 

Or breathes again at dusk some whispered word 

From out that Old World past? The Padre's sleep 

Beneath the arches gray is calm and deep. 

"The Mission Garden" by 
Gussie Packard DuBois 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 

Father Fermin Francisco Lasuen, then the priest in charge 
of San Diego, was elected by the directorate of the Franciscan 
college of San Fernando, in the City of Mexico, February 6, 
1785 to succeed Father Palou, and on March 13, 1787 the 
Sacred Congregation at Rome confirmed his appointment and 
accorded him the same right of confirmation which Father 
Serra exercised, and from that time he directed the affairs of 
the Missions with the greatest energy, within five years con- 
firming over five thousand persons, and with the utmost dis- 
cretion. There was no abatement of activity in the extension 
of the Mission chain, there being nine new establishments dur- 
ing his administration, and despite the efforts of the military 
to separate the Fathers from the temporal affairs of the Mis- 
sion, Father Lasuen was able to evade their efforts and con- 
tinue the system that his experience and judgment showed to 
be the only practical method. 

The antagonism of the military was no mere fancy of the 
Fathers, and very soon after his appointment, Father Lasuen 
was called upon to reply to the accusations that had been for- 
warded by Governor Fages to Mexico, which claimed that the 
Holy Sacrifice of Mass had not been celebrated at the Presidio 
of San Francisco; that the Fathers refused to recognize the 
Governor in several matters within his jurisdiction, and that 
they sometimes embarked for San Bias without his permit. 

In the communication of Father Lasuen, he stated that "if 
the King himself were here personally, he would be fully satis- 
fied when he saw how scrupulously, punctually and exactly his 
sovereign laws and his very intentions were carried out. I 
shall now fully answer the points which the Governor raises 
in his deplorable paper, and then it will be seen that His Honor, 
owing to his martial activity and ardent zeal, may commit 
mistakes." His arguments so successfully refuted the com- 
plaint that the authorities were entirely satisfied, and in fact 
they increased the advantages of the Fathers so that "on re- 
ceipt of the joyful news, with renewed courage they set to 
work trying to improve the Indians, spiritually and corporally; 
and thereafter there was no lack of volunteers ready to devote 
themselves for life to the conversion of the savages, who in 
great numbers still eked out a poor living in the mountains 
and deserts of California." , 

77 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
Despite the fact that the allotment to the Fathers was paid 
out of the pious fund, and was not any burden whatsoever 
on the Royal treasury, and moreover, that the Fathers were 
pledged by oath to a condition of poverty; there was at all 
times a great uneasiness on the part of the officials, that they 
were being too munificently aided or in some way were un- 
reasonably exempted from just costs. Indeed, on such a petty 
matter as the charges for carriage of official letters between 
the Fathers, or to and from the College, Governor Fages caus- 
ed considerable annoyance. According to Father Engelhardt, 
personal correspondence with relatives and friends seems to 
have ceased entirely, before they ever came to California. "In 
all the mass of more than five thousand letters, still extant in 
several collections, there is not one note from a relative or 
friend in Spain or Mexico which would indicate that a Califor- 
nia friar had written to the scene of his childhood, and only two 
letters suggest that the respective missionary had any relative 
at all. This utter absence of personal correspondence reveals 
the absolute detachment of the missionary from kith and kin 
and every worldly interest, and proves his entire sacrifice of 
self to the interests of God." 

Father-Presidente Lasuen did not receive even the stipend 
allowed by the government to the Mission Fathers and his 
utter poverty must have been keenly felt when on one occa- 
sion he received from Governor Borica word of his aged sis- 
ter's indigence in Spain. Undoubtedly he would have sent help 
to his sister were it possible for him to have done so, and his 
reply shows that under no circumstances were the funds of 
the Missions used by the Fathers for personal needs. Father 
Lasuen wrote in reply: "Two thousand thanks to Your 
Honor's sister, Dona Bernarda, for her kind affection towards 
my poor dear sister Clara. She says of her that she is a good 
woman, and therefore there need be no fear that she may 
perish from want. I venture to say that, if I possessed much 
wealth, I would give it with good cheer, even to reducing 
myself to the state of mendicancy in which I find myself, 
in order to assist her. I am infinitely glad that the application 
has been made through Your Honor; for no one else will be so 
well able to inform her of my absolute poverty, and to unde- 
ceive my poor dear relative, as your sister. I have forwarded 

78 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
the letter to my Superior at San Fernando College, with the 
remark that the Governor has sent me this letter of his sister, 
which, as may be seen from it, intercedes in behalf of my poor 
sister. I am poorer than she, for I am absolutely supported by 
means of alms of the Franciscan friars. If there be any'way 
of aiding her, I shall be much pleased, and God will repay it." 

On another occasion demand was made that the mission- 
aries should pay the ecclesiastical tithe conceded to His Majesty, 
of six per cent of the stipend and other revenues received. To 
which Father Lasuen replied that their only revenue was the 
annual stipend of four hundred dollars, before referred to, as 
their services to the colonists and Indians were absolutely free. 
And as the stipend was paid in clothing and other necessaries 
for the Indians, church and field, it would be necessary to turn 
to Mexico where that much less should be collected from the 
treasury, if the six per cent must be levied, as the Fathers re- 
ceived no money at all. Again they were called upon to con- 
tribute to the funds of Spain in her war against France, which 
they were of course in no position to do, as set forth by Father 
Lasuen in their defense. "We are thirty Franciscans who are 
exerting ourselves in the pious work which the King himself 
declared engaged his chief and serious attention. Twenty-six 
have stipends, and four are without them; among the latter is 
myself. I manage this Mission of San Carlos; I attend the 
Presidio like other missionaries and look after the Missions. I 
do this work with the greatest pleasure, and I mention it, not 
in order to quote service, but by force of the occasion, so that 
it may be seen that I have nothing to offer. In the same light 
I consider my Reverend Collaborators; for the stipend which 
they enjoy, subtracting what we absolutely need for a Fran- 
ciscan way of living, they turn over for the maintenance and 
advance of the Missions. *j * Inasmuch as the Fathers are 
placed in poverty by their profession, and the Indian wards by 
their nature, I think that His Majesty does not want of us any 
other temporal contribution than that which we are offering. 
It is that which lets me breathe amidst the torture in which 
the present solicitude has placed me, between the anxieties as 
a Spanish subject and my lot as a poor Franciscan." 

Again on frequent occasions, the amounts to be allotted for 
the traveling expenses of the missionaries going to or retum- 

79 - 






MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
ing from the field, were endeavored to be restricted, as was 
also even the. small annual stipend itself. So that it will be 
seen that there was much to worry the Father-Presidente be- 
sides the serious task of his undertaking with the Indians. 

Much of his time during his last years was consumed in 
replying to these various accusations, including those of Father 
Concepcion Horra, arising from his sad insanity, and in defend- 
ing the work of the missionaries. But little is recorded of the 
last days and death of this great man. Father Jose" Vinals 
writes: "He died after receiving all the Sacraments, with truly 
religious resignation at two o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, 
June 26, 1803, at Mision San Carlos Borromeo," where, two 
days later, he was buried in the sanctuary, on the Gospel side, 
in a stone tomb near the main altar. 

ASISTENCI A DE SAN ANTONIO DE P ALA— Among 
the activities of Father Peyri, none is more distinctive than 
the chapel of San Antonio de Pala, which he founded in 1816. 
It is located in the valley of Pala, (the name of which means 
shovel and is suggestive of its shape) about twenty miles 
from San Luis Rey. Here a Father was placed in charge 
and in a short time over a thousand neophytes were enrolled 
and excellent work was done among the rancherias of that 
vicinity, which were too distant to be successfully reached di- 
rectly from the parent Mission. 

The buildings were erected on approved lines; the ruins 
showing them to have been long and low, constructed of 
adobe with tiled roofe, and graced by a corridor. similar to 
those of the larger establishments. The interior of the chapel 
was floored with brick tiles, and the walls were decorated in 
a primitive and distinctive manner by the Indians. At a re- 
cent date a priest in ignorance of the interest attached to such 
matters, caused these decorations to be obliterated by a coat 
of whitewash, much to the sorrow of the Indians now there, 
who have a great interest in, and affection for this record of 
the past prosperity of their race. A wooden statue of San 
Luis Rey, carved by the Indians, is in the chapel, and other 
statues and several paintings, all of which are much prized by 
the worshippers. 

The most distinctive feature of Pala, however, is the pic- 
turesque campanile, which stands separated from the buildings 

80 




THE BELL TOWER OF SAN ANTONIO DE PALA 






Clear ring the silvery Mission bells 
Their calls to Vesper and to Mass; 

O'er vineyard slopes, through fruited dells, 
The long processions pass; 

The pale Franciscan lifts in air 
The Cross above the kneeling throng; 

Their simple world how sweet with prayer, 
With chant and matin-song! 

From "Helen Hunt Jackson" 
by Ina Coolbrith 



MISION SAN LUIS, REY DE FRANCIA 
in the cemetery. It is built on most graceful lines with two 
arched openings, one above the other, in which hang the bells 
that have sent forth their call to worship for so many years. 
On the top, in place of the cross, there is now a crown of tall 
cactus, adding a touch of wildness to the romantic tower. It 
is constructed of cobblestones and mortar, resting on a wide 
tapering foundation, and the substantial material has caused 
it to successfully resist the attacks of the elements that have 
wrought such havoc to the buildings. 

The former Indian population of Pala has disappeared, and 
it is now occupied by the evicted Palatingwa Indians. But all 
who live within many miles around take a peculiar interest in 
the chapel, and assemble in a goodly congregation whenever 
a priest comes to hold service. They also have given freely, 
and without cost, of their labor, to aid the Land Marks Club 
in its efforts to repair the old buildings and prevent their fur- 
ther ruin. 

In "California Coast Trails," Chase gives this pretty picture 
of Pala: "In the gathering dusk we rode into the village, and 
bivouacked in the adobe walled courtyard in the rear of the 
general store. We dined in dusk and darkness, and later, when 
the moon came up, wandered for an hour about the village. 
Lights shone here and there in the windows of the cottages; 
the humble white-railed graves in the little Indian cemetery 
glimmered under the shadow of 
the old tower whose bells had 
counted out the lives of all that 
sleeping company; a mandolin 
tinkled; the mountains rose near 
and solemn all around; a bar of 
warm light shone from the half- 
open door of the padre's room in 
the cloister; from a new building 
across the street came the click 
of billiard balls. So even Pala 
suffers change." 




81 



RUINED 

ARCH, 

SANTA INES 

— H.C.TibbKU 




K 



MISION SANTA INES ■ THE GOLDEN AGE 
OF THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS * FATHER- 
PRESIDENTE EST^VAN TAPIS 

"OW opened the Golden Age 
of the old Spanish Missions 
in California. Eighteen establish- 
ments had been founded through 
the devoted efforts of Father Juni- 
pero Serra and of his successor 
Father Fermin Francisco de Las- 
uen, before the close of the eigh- 
teenth century. El Camino Real, 
the King's Highway, with hospi- 
table stations marking each day's 
journey from San Diego, We first 
frontier station in the south, north- 
ward along the Coast line to the 
Mission and Presidio of San Fran- 
cisco de Asis, was a realized 
dream. Throughout all of this ex- 
tensive territory thousands of native converts were coming in- 
to the church fold and were being taught the message of Christ 
and trained in habits of cleanliness and industry, while the pro- 
duct of their labors was accumulating in great stores of wealth. 
When Father-Presidente Lasuen passed to his reward in 
1803, Father 'Estevan Tapis announced that he assumed the 
office of Presidente in view of his appointment by the College 
in Mexico in 1798, and proved hardly less pious and capable 
than his venerable predecessor, ruling the Missions with zeal 
and wisdom. The period moreover was benefited by the wise 
cooperation of Governor Arrillaga, who ruled the territory in 
cordial support of the missionaries, protecting them in the free 
exercise of their duties. Therefore, while there was but the 
one new Mission of Santa foe's founded during the decade, 
the missionaries labored in the field already tilled with a will 
for the salvation of the Indians and their own sanctification. 

The foundation of Mision Santa Ines was occasioned by the 
prospect of converting the Indians living east of the Coast 
Range of mountains. Father-Presidente Lasuen instructed 
Father Tapis to make a survey in 1798, and upon his report a 



82 



MISION SANTA INES 
site was selected in a beautiful valley at Calahuasa, about 
thirty-five miles from Santa Barbara, surrounded by charming 
and romantic mountainous scenery. The place was called by 
the Indians, Alajulapu, meaning corner, and near there were 
discovered thirteen rancherias with an estimated population 
of over eleven hundred gentiles. 

When in 1804 the Mission establishment at that spot was 
finally authorized, Father Tapis was by that time Father- 
Presidente, and accordingly he led the party of priests, soldiers 
and neophytes, starting from Santa Barbara and marching 
over the picturesque route to the site, where he founded the 
Mission with the usual sacred ceremonies, September 17, 1804, 
leaving Father Antonio Calzada and Father Romualdo Guti- 
errez as the missionaries in charge. 

The first result of the new Mission was the immediate bap- 
tism of twenty-seven children. The progress of the work there- 
after was substantial, but at no time did the number of neo- 
phytes enrolled quite reach eight hundred, and it proved an un- 
happy condition that the death rate of the Mission population 
almost equaled the number of baptisms each year. The materi- 
al progress, however, resulted in the accumulation of consider- 
able wealth. In a period of five years, supplies valued at over 
ten thousand dollars were furnished Santa Barbara Presidio. 

Santa Ines participated in the excitement of the Indian up- 
rising of 1824. It was there, as has been stated in a previous 
chapter, that the discontent over the severity of the soldiers 
first found expression and the Indians broke out into revolt, 
burning a large number of the Mission buildings, and escaping 
to La Purisima where they were ultimately over-come by 
forces sent from Monterey. In this disturbance fortunately the 
church appears to have escaped injury. 

Soon after the establishment of Santa Ines a modest church 
had been erected, simple but ample for all needful purposes, 
and roofed with tiles. In the earthquake of 1812 this structure 
was so damaged that services had to be held temporarily in the 
granary of the Mission and the patient Fathers were com- 
pelled to start on the construction of a new edifice which was 
completed and dedicated in 1817. This was built of brick and 
adobe, roofed and floored with brick tiles and is the one we 
see remaining to-day. 

83 



MISION SANTA INES 

A beautiful Campanile, being a plain wall, pierced as at 
San Gabriel and satisfying the desire both for strength and 
grace, on one side extends the simple fachada of the church, 
while dn the other is what remains of the long graceful line 
of corridor arches that supported the low tiled roof of the 
monastery building. There are now only ten remaining and 
in the distance is the picturesque ruined pillar of another one, 
standing isolated and alone. The walls of the church are mas- 
sive and supported by heavy buttresses. 

The interior of the chapel suggests that of San Fernando, 
with massive square carved beams supporting the ceiling. 
Around the walls extend heavy rounded mouldings about three 
feet from the floor and again the same distance from the ceil- 
ing, providing a very effective structural ornament, and the red 
tile flooring gives strength and color to all. The original altar 
of plastered adobe, "built out like a huge statue bracket from 
the rear wall," says James, "Is hidden behind the more preten- 
tious modern one now in use, but the old tabernacle, ornate 
and florid, showing its century of service, is still retained." 

An evidence of the splendid engineering work of the Fathers 
is shown in the large brick reservoir that may be seen almost 
opposite the church entrance. The water was brought from 
the mountains several miles away through flumes and under- 
ground, through cement pipes made by the Indians, and stored 
in the main reservoir for the use of the Fathers. From this a 
second reservoir, also made of burnt brick, was supplied through 
an underground cement pipe fully six hundred feet long, to 
serve the needs of the Indian village. 

At the time of the secularization the wealth of the Mission 
was valued at fifty-six thousand dollars. This suffered the same 
fate as the property of all the other Missions, and but little re- 
mained when, in 1843, the Mission was returned to the charge 
of the Fathers. In. 1844 they established a seminary of learn- 
ing, receiving through the efforts of Bishop Garcia a grant of 
land for the support of the undertaking and an annual stipend 
of five hundred dollars, conditional upon the privilege being ex- 
tended to every Californian in search of higher education of 
being admitted to the educational benefits of the institution. 
Notwithstanding this, the following year the entire estate was 
rented by order of Governor Pico, and later on sold to the les- 

84 




W. S. DassonvOle 



MISION SANTA INES 



It's a long road and sunny, and the fairest 
in the world— 

There are peaks that rise above it in their 
sunny mantles curled, 

And it leads from the mountains through a 
hedge of chaparral, 

Down to the waters where the sea gulls call. 

It's a long road and sunny, it's a long road 
and old, 

And the brown Padres made it for the flocks 
of the fold; 

They made it for the sandals of the sinner- 
folks that trod 

From the fields in the open to the shelter- 
house of God. 

* * * 

We will take the road together through the 

morning's golden glow, 
And we'll dream of those who trod it in the 

mellow long ago. 

"El Camino Real-' by 
John S. McGroarty 



MISION SANTA INES 
sees for seven thousand dollars, the Fathers finally abandoning 
the Mission in 1850 and retiring to Santa Barbara. 

For many years the Mission remained unattended and fell 
into ruins, until to-day there remains only enough to suggest 
the extent and beauty of the original structure. It is now 
occupied as the headquarters of Father Alexander Buckler, 
who is in charge of an extensive parish, and through his efforts 
some portion of the structure has been restored. Recently 
the bell-tower and several of the buttresses crumbled away 
during the spring rains and they have now been replaced with 
a construction of lasting concrete. The bells fortunately 
escaped harm, even to their ornamental caps of sycamore, 
and they have been replaced in the new structure and are 
still used to call the worshipers to attendance. 

J. Smeaton Chase tells a delightful anecdote of the tradi- 
tional hospitality extended by the Mission to passing wayfar- 
ers. In this instance the writer recounts how he requested 
permission to camp near by, but was compelled to partake 
of the board and lodging of the cordial priest. "Whether I 
was Catholic, Protestant or Mohammedan, Quaker, Shaker or 
Supra-lapsarian was all one to him: I was a traveler, and a 
guest of St. Agnes I must be." 

"Lying, as this Mission does, away from the main lines of 
travel," he continues, "It has suffered less than many of its 
sisters from the vandals, and is a veritable museum of objects 
historical, ecclestastical and quaint. * * "I was amused at 
a little Madonna of wood, a foot or so high, with a painfully 
commonplace expression of face, but a quizzical look in the eye 
that was highly comic. The good Father was not a whit 
offended at my mirth over the absurd little figure, and ex- 
plained that it was the special pride of his Indian flock. When 
he removed it once from its place in the church, where it had 
stood for many years they objected strenuously, and would 
not rest until it was brought back. After all, perhaps one might 
better envy than laugh at such admirable simplicity." 

And so the Mission of Santa Lies, despite its years of neg- 
lect, still remains true to the ideals of its founders, ministering 
to the guest and serving the Indian and the simple-minded in 
such humble way as may most surely lead them to the fold. 



85 



MISION SAN RAFAEL, ARCANGEL * MEAN- 
ING THE HEALING OF GOD • SUCCESSFUL 
BUT NOW UTTERLY DISAPPEARED 



SAN 

RAFAEL, 

ARCANGEL. 

FROM AN 

OLD 

PAINTING. 

Courtesy of 

Charles B. 

Turrill, Eaq. 




"^T^HE beginning was given to the foundation of San Rafael 
X with all the solemnity on the fourteenth of last month 
(December, 1817) by Father Abella, Father Narciso Duran, 
Father Luis Toboada and myself. We planted and blessed 
with solemn ceremonies the Holy Cross at the time of Vespers, 
and on this day Holy Mass was sung with music, Te Deum, 
and the Word of God was announced in both languages. In 
the afternoon there were twenty-six baptisms of children. 
There are about two hundred gentiles for instruction." This 
is the report of Father-Prefecto Sarria to Father-Presidente 
Payeras concerning the new establishment that was created 
for the benefit of the ailing neophytes of San Francisco, that 
in a few years grew to such proportions that over eleven hun- 
dred converts were enlisted in its care, and that within such a 
comparitively short time had passed so utterly away that no 
vestige but a few pear trees now remains to mark the spot 
where it flourished. 

It was pleasantly located, "sheltered and secluded by sur- 
rounding hills that are rounded and beautifully sloped, and then 
covered with richest verdure and a variety of trees in which 
song-birds nest and sing, and beneath which peaceful cattle 
and sheep graze," writes George Wharton James. "It must 
have been a place of rest, content and retirement for the poor 
sick neophytes brought up from San Francisco." As an experi- 

86 



MISION SAN RAFAEL, ARCANGEL 
ment, a number of them had been transferred to the spot called 
by the Indians, Nanaguanx, favored by a gentle climate and, 
as just described, desirably situated. The results were satisfac- 
tory and owing to those unfortunates who passed away not 
having the benefit of the Sacraments, Father Gil y Taboada 
heroically proposed that he live among them, saying: "I am 
ready to sacrifice myself in the service of these poor Indians, 
even to the shedding of my blood if necessary." It was there- 
fore resolved to found "a kind ofrancho with its chapel, bap- 
tistery and cemetery, under the title of San Rafael, Arcangel, in 
order that this most glorious prince, who in his name expresses 
the 'healing of God,' may care for the bodies as well as the 
souls." Ultimately this rancho proved self supporting, and 
though there is no record of it ever having been raised to the 
dignity of an independent Mission, it was referred to as such in 
all the reports made by the Fathers after 1823. 

A creditable building of adobe was erected during the year 
following the foundation, and though no effort was made to 
beautify the Mission architecturally, it proved comfortable and 
well suited to its purpose. The building was low and long — 
divided by partitions into the various necessary apartments, in- 
cluding a chapel and the priest's house, and a corridor covered 
with tules gave relief from the sun. Old pictures show that the 
chime of bells was suspended in a frame placed outside the 
chapel entrance. The structure, however, was so lightly con- 
structed that it could not withstand the years of neglect after 
the secularization and it soon melted away and disappeared. 

Father-Presidente Tapis, under whose administration Santa 
Ines had been founded and who worthily succeeded Father 
Lasuen in the responsibilities of the direction of the affairs of 
the Missions, petitioned to be relieved and in 1812 was suc- 
ceeded by Father Jose Sefian of San Buenaventura. At that 
time an important change was made in the ecclesiastical gov- 
ernment, and the office of Comisario-Prefecto for California 
was created to represent the Father Commissary-General of 
the Indies and to transact business affairs. Father Vicente de 
Sarria was the first one to hold this office. Father Sefian, find- 
ing the office of Presidente too arduous for his temperament, 
in 1815 was succeeded by Father Mariano Payeras, under 
whose administration the foundation of San Rafael occurred. 

87 



MISION SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO * AN UN- 
AUTHORIZED FOUNDATION ■ THE AIM OF 
FATHER JUNIPERO SERRA REALIZED 



SAN 

FRANCISCO 

SOLANO. 

FROM AN 

OLD 

PAINTING. 

Courtesy of 

Charles B. 

Turrill, Esq. 




GLORIOUS as was the dream of the Franciscan Fathers, 
and magnificent as was its expression in the Franciscan 
Missions that had been established with such self-sacrificing 
zeal, its material growth had by now reached its zenith and 
was destined soon to decline. The founding of San Francisco 
Solano, the twenty-first and last Mission of the chain, was not 
intended as the development of a new establishment but rather 
as the transfer of an old one, and the occasion lacked the in- 
spiration that attended the consecration of all the preceding 
Missions and was, in fact, unfortunately marked by an ele- 
ment of discord. 

Father Jose Altimira, a young and inexperienced priest 
who had been newly stationed at San Francisco de Asis, 
encouraged, it is said, by Governor Arguello, decided that it 
would be desirable to remove the Mission to a locality north 
of San Rafael where it would be favored with a milder cli- 
mate and a more fertile soil. Accordingly, on the authorization 
only of the legislative assembly and without referring the 
plan to the Church authorities who rightly had jurisdiction, 
he explored the region for a desirable site and finally laid 
the foundation at Sonoma, July 4, 1823, announcing that the 
place was to be called New San Francisco. Naturally the 
Fathers deemed the act presumptuous and as striking at 
authority, and notified Father Altimira that the foundation of 
the Mission was not lawfully authorized. This occasioned an 

88 






O, brothers grieve not that the old gives 

place to new, 
That the present's rushing purpose to 

the past forgets its due; 
God endures to see the lily drop its petals 

one by one; 
Shall not we abide the death of that whose 

work for Earth is done? 
Gone our Missions' life midst conflicts, 

but the truth we sought to tell, 
Shall resist the strife of ages, for with 

God its might doth dwell; 
Then grieve not at altars broken, or at 

mould on cherished shrine, 
God is greater than the ages! Truth is as 

His life — divine. 

From "A California Pilgrimage," 
by Amelia W. Truosdala 






MISION SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO 
excited outburst from the young Father, but finally a com- 
promise was arranged by which neither San Francisco de Asis 
nor San Rafael were to be suppressed, and the Father-Presi- 
dente would recognize the foundation of the new Mission. 
Accordingly, the formal dedication was held April 4, 1824, and 
Father Altimira was placed in charge. 

Before the end of the year an adobe building, roofed with 
tiles was constructed, together with a number of subordinate 
structures, and the neophytes, many of whom had come from 
San Jose, San Francisco and San Rafael, and represented fully 
thirty-five tribes, were directed in the usual industries. 

The buildings were extremely plain. Though not entirely 
neglected the years have not added to their appearance, and 
it is chiefly their historical associations that lend them interest. 
The church is about thirty-six feet long by sixteen feet wide 
and is crowned by a tower said to have been built by General 
Vallejo about 1835. Adjoining this is a low building about 
ninety-five feet long, with overhanging roof on either side to 
cover the corridors. Running through the center is a thick wall 
of adobe supporting the ridge of the roof. 

The Mission was purchased by the William R. Hearst 
Landmarks League in 1903 and deeded to the State. A recent 
appropriation provides funds to completely restore the build- 
ings, and the sweet toned Vesper bell once more will echo 
throughout the historic "Valley of the Moon." 

With Solano ends the development of the Mission chain. 
The remarkable achievement of the Fathers in raising, .within 
a single generation, savages whose physical and moral habits 
were bestial in the extreme, to a condition where thirty-five 
thousand at one time were living in civilized environment and 
engaged in self-respecting and productive industry, compris- 
ing fully fifty distinct trades and crafts, is certainly without 
parallel in the history of the world. But wonderful as this is, 
it must be remembered that it was merely incidental to, and 
not the chief purpose of the missionaries, which was solely to 
convert the savages to Christianity. In this also the Fathers 
were successful. Even though the material accomplishment 
has passed away and the Indians have lost the just reward for 
their labor, they still remain true to the religion that was taught 
them. The real aim of Father Junipero Serra is realized. 

89 






HERE ENDS THE OLD SPANISH MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA, 
AS WRITTEN BY PAUL ELDER, WITH GRATEFUL AC- 
KNOWLEDGMENT TO THE SEVERAL AUTHORS, ANCIENT 
AND MODERN, FROM WHOSE WRITINGS IT HAS BEEN 
COMPILED, AND TO THE ARTISTS WHOSE WORK ILLUS- 
TRATES ITS PAGES. PUBLISHED BY PAUL ELDER AND 
COMPANY AT THEIR TOMOYE PRESS UNDER THE TYPO- 
GRAPHICAL DIRECTION OF JOHN BERNHARDT SWART, 
AND PRINTED AT THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO IN THE 
MONTH OF AUGUST, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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